diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 5b351afae..028cdfd46 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Other fixes:
  - GBA: Fix maximum tile ID in caching for 256-color modes
  - GBA Video: Fix cache updating with proxy and GL renderers
  - Libretro: Fix crash when using Game Boy codes (fixes mgba.io/i/2281)
+ - mGUI: Fix crash if autosave file can't be opened (fixes mgba.io/i/2268)
  - Qt: Remove potentially deadlocking optimization
  - Qt: Fix corrupted savestate and fatal error text
  - Qt: Fix sprite compositing when sprite tiles go out of bounds (fixes mgba.io/i/2348)
diff --git a/src/feature/gui/gui-runner.c b/src/feature/gui/gui-runner.c
index d3945ba8b..9eab72ad1 100644
--- a/src/feature/gui/gui-runner.c
+++ b/src/feature/gui/gui-runner.c
@@ -181,10 +181,10 @@ static void _tryAutosave(struct mGUIRunner* runner) {
 #ifdef DISABLE_THREADING
 	mCoreSaveState(runner->core, 0, SAVESTATE_SAVEDATA | SAVESTATE_RTC | SAVESTATE_METADATA);
 #else
+	MutexLock(&runner->autosave.mutex);
 	if (!runner->autosave.buffer) {
 		runner->autosave.buffer = VFileMemChunk(NULL, 0);
 	}
-	MutexLock(&runner->autosave.mutex);
 	runner->autosave.core = runner->core;
 	mCoreSaveStateNamed(runner->core, runner->autosave.buffer, SAVESTATE_SAVEDATA | SAVESTATE_RTC | SAVESTATE_METADATA);
 	ConditionWake(&runner->autosave.cond);
@@ -739,7 +739,13 @@ THREAD_ENTRY mGUIAutosaveThread(void* context) {
 	while (autosave->running) {
 		ConditionWait(&autosave->cond, &autosave->mutex);
 		if (autosave->running && autosave->core) {
+			if (!autosave->buffer) {
+				continue;
+			}
 			struct VFile* vf = mCoreGetState(autosave->core, 0, true);
+			if (!vf) {
+				continue;
+			}
 			void* mem = autosave->buffer->map(autosave->buffer, autosave->buffer->size(autosave->buffer), MAP_READ);
 			vf->write(vf, mem, autosave->buffer->size(autosave->buffer));
 			autosave->buffer->unmap(autosave->buffer, mem, autosave->buffer->size(autosave->buffer));