diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index ae3eb14c5a38efc69f4b15bf61c7fcbf665267c2..61f6dbbbaff2aa7e9f30d489f8961168e202ff19 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -4422,6 +4422,10 @@ virDomainVcpuDefPostParse(virDomainDefPtr def)
     for (i = 0; i < maxvcpus; i++) {
         vcpu = virDomainDefGetVcpu(def, i);
 
+        /* impossible but some compilers don't like it */
+        if (!vcpu)
+            continue;
+
         switch (vcpu->hotpluggable) {
         case VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_ABSENT:
             if (vcpu->online)