diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 19449efddb..29da78e740 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Changelog for FrostFS Node
 ### Changed
 ### Fixed
 - Copy number was not used for `PUT` requests (#284)
+- Tree service panic in its internal client cache (#323)
 
 ### Removed
 ### Updated
diff --git a/pkg/services/tree/cache.go b/pkg/services/tree/cache.go
index ab9f509ac7..56b97e6878 100644
--- a/pkg/services/tree/cache.go
+++ b/pkg/services/tree/cache.go
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ var errRecentlyFailed = errors.New("client has recently failed")
 
 func (c *clientCache) init() {
 	l, _ := simplelru.NewLRU[string, cacheItem](defaultClientCacheSize, func(_ string, value cacheItem) {
-		_ = value.cc.Close()
+		if conn := value.cc; conn != nil {
+			_ = conn.Close()
+		}
 	})
 	c.LRU = *l
 }