diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 962698b0aa8634417de7984a6dcffac4d0796514..e40c5ec18bc8f85987f9f82110bcfaff82b32b75 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -2409,7 +2409,8 @@ qemuDomainGetImageIds(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
             *gid = cfg->group;
     }
 
-    if (vm && (vmlabel = virDomainDefGetSecurityLabelDef(vm->def, "dac")))
+    if (vm && (vmlabel = virDomainDefGetSecurityLabelDef(vm->def, "dac")) &&
+        vmlabel->label)
         virParseOwnershipIds(vmlabel->label, uid, gid);
 
     if ((disklabel = virDomainDiskDefGetSecurityLabelDef(disk, "dac")) &&
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index ec72d9dd3aae762b232e4cba1cf6dc683bb1d245..e147d282c59dc0b7a5d517326405c5965add9469 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -2771,6 +2771,7 @@ qemuOpenFile(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     /* TODO: Take imagelabel into account? */
     if (vm &&
         (seclabel = virDomainDefGetSecurityLabelDef(vm->def, "dac")) != NULL &&
+        seclabel->label != NULL &&
         (virParseOwnershipIds(seclabel->label, &user, &group) < 0))
         goto cleanup;