diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetserverclient.c b/src/rpc/virnetserverclient.c
index 0b9ab52fe185c71f653ad254acf70d60ea202cf9..64e91d3890108426018ffd3d91cd725d5720d4bb 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetserverclient.c
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetserverclient.c
@@ -1533,9 +1533,22 @@ cleanup:
 int
 virNetServerClientStartKeepAlive(virNetServerClientPtr client)
 {
-    int ret;
+    int ret = -1;
+
     virObjectLock(client);
+
+    /* The connection might have been closed before we got here and thus the
+     * keepalive object could have been removed too.
+     */
+    if (!client->sock) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("connection not open"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     ret = virKeepAliveStart(client->keepalive, 0, 0);
+
+cleanup:
     virObjectUnlock(client);
     return ret;
 }