diff --git a/lib/checknullpointer.cpp b/lib/checknullpointer.cpp
index 8657a6468..5a96947f2 100644
--- a/lib/checknullpointer.cpp
+++ b/lib/checknullpointer.cpp
@@ -403,8 +403,15 @@ bool CheckNullPointer::isPointerDeRef(const Token *tok, bool &unknown, const Sym
         if (Token::Match(tok->previous(), "!|& %var%"))
             return false;
 
+        // OK to check pointer in "= p ? : "
+        if (Token::Match(tok->next(),"?") &&
+            (Token::Match(tok->previous(), "return|throw|;|{|}|:|[|(|,") || tok->previous()->isAssignmentOp()))
+            return false;
+
         // OK to pass pointer to function
-        if (Token::Match(tok->previous(), "[(,] %var% [,)]"))
+        if (Token::Match(tok->previous(), "[(,] %var% [,)]") &&
+            (!Token::Match(tok->previous(), "( %var%") ||
+             Token::Match(tok->tokAt(-2), "%var% ( %var%")))
             return false;
 
         // Compare pointer
diff --git a/test/testnullpointer.cpp b/test/testnullpointer.cpp
index 790c32bac..c58a32063 100644
--- a/test/testnullpointer.cpp
+++ b/test/testnullpointer.cpp
@@ -595,6 +595,28 @@ private:
               "}\n");
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
 
+        check("void f() {\n"
+              "    int * a=0;\n"
+              "    if (!a) {};\n"
+              "    int c = a ? 0 : 1;\n"
+              "}\n",true);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+
+        // #3686
+        check("void f() {\n"
+              "    int * a=0;\n"
+              "    if (!a) {};\n"
+              "    int c = a ? b : b+1;\n"
+              "}\n",true);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+
+        check("void f() {\n"
+              "    int * a=0;\n"
+              "    if (!a) {};\n"
+              "    int c = (a) ? b : b+1;\n"
+              "}\n",true);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+
         check("void foo(P *p)\n"
               "{\n"
               "  while (p)\n"