diff --git a/src/Serializer/ItemNormalizer.php b/src/Serializer/ItemNormalizer.php
index 36bb1799f1d..687acb5ceee 100644
--- a/src/Serializer/ItemNormalizer.php
+++ b/src/Serializer/ItemNormalizer.php
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class ItemNormalizer extends AbstractItemNormalizer
     public function denormalize($data, $class, $format = null, array $context = [])
     {
         // Avoid issues with proxies if we populated the object
-        if (isset($data['id']) && !isset($context[self::OBJECT_TO_POPULATE])) {
+        if (isset($data['id']) && !isset($context[self::OBJECT_TO_POPULATE]) && isset($context['resource_class'])) {
             if (isset($context['api_allow_update']) && true !== $context['api_allow_update']) {
                 throw new InvalidArgumentException('Update is not allowed for this operation.');
             }