diff --git a/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp b/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp
index 7d7ccd7b023..5982f3fa0d2 100644
--- a/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp
@@ -1007,7 +1007,7 @@ void CheckUnusedVar::checkFunctionVariableUsage_iterateScopes(const Scope* const
 
         // assignment
         else if ((Token::Match(tok, "%name% [") && Token::simpleMatch(skipBracketsAndMembers(tok->next()), "=")) ||
-                 (tok->isUnaryOp("*") && Token::simpleMatch(tok->astParent(), "=") && Token::simpleMatch(tok->astOperand1(), "+"))) {
+                 (tok->isUnaryOp("*") && astIsLHS(tok) && Token::simpleMatch(tok->astParent(), "=") && Token::simpleMatch(tok->astOperand1(), "+"))) {
             const Token *eq = tok;
             while (eq && !eq->isAssignmentOp())
                 eq = eq->astParent();
diff --git a/test/testunusedvar.cpp b/test/testunusedvar.cpp
index 7a4996f9bc2..749dd206b6b 100644
--- a/test/testunusedvar.cpp
+++ b/test/testunusedvar.cpp
@@ -244,6 +244,7 @@ class TestUnusedVar : public TestFixture {
 
         TEST_CASE(crash1);
         TEST_CASE(crash2);
+        TEST_CASE(crash3);
         TEST_CASE(usingNamespace);     // #4585
 
         TEST_CASE(lambdaFunction); // #5078
@@ -6916,6 +6917,14 @@ class TestUnusedVar : public TestFixture {
                               "}"); // #4695
     }
 
+    void crash3() {
+        functionVariableUsage("void f(int a, int b, const int* p) {\n" // #12531
+                              "    const int* s[] = { p, p + 1, p + 2 };\n"
+                              "    a = *(s[a] + b);\n"
+                              "}\n");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("[test.cpp:3]: (style) Variable 'a' is assigned a value that is never used.\n", errout_str());
+    }
+
     void usingNamespace() {
         functionVariableUsage("int foo() {\n"
                               "   using namespace ::com::sun::star::i18n;\n"