diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/planner/combine_query_planner.c b/src/backend/distributed/planner/combine_query_planner.c
index 1ada6bcc0..e61ff8daf 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/planner/combine_query_planner.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/planner/combine_query_planner.c
@@ -338,6 +338,10 @@ FindCitusExtradataContainerRTE(Node *node, RangeTblEntry **result)
 		{
 			RangeTblFunction *rangeTblFunction = (RangeTblFunction *) linitial(
 				rangeTblEntry->functions);
+			if (!IsA(rangeTblFunction->funcexpr, FuncExpr))
+			{
+				return false;
+			}
 			FuncExpr *funcExpr = castNode(FuncExpr, rangeTblFunction->funcexpr);
 			if (funcExpr->funcid == CitusExtraDataContainerFuncId())
 			{
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/coordinator_evaluation.out b/src/test/regress/expected/coordinator_evaluation.out
index f7c648d97..513822af3 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/coordinator_evaluation.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/coordinator_evaluation.out
@@ -609,5 +609,18 @@ SELECT * FROM reference_table ORDER BY 1;
  (5)
 (5 rows)
 
+-- failing UPDATE on a reference table with a subquery in RETURNING clause that needs to be pushed-down.
+-- the error message is not great, but at least we no longer see crashes.
+CREATE TABLE ref (a int);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref');
+ create_reference_table
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
+UPDATE ref SET a = 1 RETURNING
+	(SELECT pg_catalog.max(latest_end_time) FROM pg_catalog.pg_stat_wal_receiver)
+        as c3;
+ERROR:  a column definition list is required for functions returning "record"
 SET client_min_messages TO ERROR;
 DROP SCHEMA coordinator_evaluation CASCADE;
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/coordinator_evaluation.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/coordinator_evaluation.sql
index 10bea8842..75f3e3d1f 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/coordinator_evaluation.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/coordinator_evaluation.sql
@@ -223,5 +223,13 @@ INSERT INTO reference_table VALUES ('(4)'), ('(5)');
 
 SELECT * FROM reference_table ORDER BY 1;
 
+-- failing UPDATE on a reference table with a subquery in RETURNING clause that needs to be pushed-down.
+-- the error message is not great, but at least we no longer see crashes.
+CREATE TABLE ref (a int);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref');
+UPDATE ref SET a = 1 RETURNING
+	(SELECT pg_catalog.max(latest_end_time) FROM pg_catalog.pg_stat_wal_receiver)
+        as c3;
+
 SET client_min_messages TO ERROR;
 DROP SCHEMA coordinator_evaluation CASCADE;