diff --git a/src/util/virqemu.c b/src/util/virqemu.c
index e7ea068b94f4544191b540d1c55d8fe59672fa43..d6652262fea8fab06bd998365f6de312cf02456d 100644
--- a/src/util/virqemu.c
+++ b/src/util/virqemu.c
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ virQEMUBuildCommandLineJSONRecurse(const char *key,
     struct virQEMUCommandLineJSONIteratorData data = { key, buf, arrayFunc };
     virJSONType type = virJSONValueGetType(value);
     virJSONValuePtr elem;
+    bool tmp;
     size_t i;
 
     if (!key && type != VIR_JSON_TYPE_OBJECT) {
@@ -159,16 +160,17 @@ virQEMUBuildCommandLineJSONRecurse(const char *key,
     switch (type) {
     case VIR_JSON_TYPE_STRING:
         virBufferAsprintf(buf, "%s=", key);
-        virQEMUBuildBufferEscapeComma(buf, value->data.string);
+        virQEMUBuildBufferEscapeComma(buf, virJSONValueGetString(value));
         virBufferAddLit(buf, ",");
         break;
 
     case VIR_JSON_TYPE_NUMBER:
-        virBufferAsprintf(buf, "%s=%s,", key, value->data.number);
+        virBufferAsprintf(buf, "%s=%s,", key, virJSONValueGetNumberString(value));
         break;
 
     case VIR_JSON_TYPE_BOOLEAN:
-        if (value->data.boolean)
+        virJSONValueGetBoolean(value, &tmp);
+        if (tmp)
             virBufferAsprintf(buf, "%s=yes,", key);
         else
             virBufferAsprintf(buf, "%s=no,", key);