diff --git a/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c b/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c
index aeec593bb051381a665e31c1121d2618a4078c0c..ba13065288e0f2d1592f7c21c39c1e1b7083b890 100644
--- a/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c
+++ b/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c
@@ -625,6 +625,12 @@ static int lxcDomainSetMemory(virDomainPtr dom, unsigned long newmem) {
     }
 
     if (virDomainObjIsActive(vm)) {
+        if (driver->cgroup == NULL) {
+            lxcError(VIR_ERR_NO_SUPPORT,
+                     "%s", _("cgroups must be configured on the host"));
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+
         if (virCgroupForDomain(driver->cgroup, vm->def->name, &cgroup, 0) != 0) {
             lxcError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                      _("Unable to get cgroup for %s\n"), vm->def->name);
diff --git a/src/util/cgroup.c b/src/util/cgroup.c
index 87777814d63b69ed485df5c7537a3f1780dae59d..496d9d308b03a188ba918097db5c4923df8c2364 100644
--- a/src/util/cgroup.c
+++ b/src/util/cgroup.c
@@ -692,6 +692,9 @@ int virCgroupForDomain(virCgroupPtr driver,
     int rc;
     char *path;
 
+    if (driver == NULL)
+        return -EINVAL;
+
     if (virAsprintf(&path, "%s/%s", driver->path, name) < 0)
         return -ENOMEM;