diff --git a/src/util/virnetdev.c b/src/util/virnetdev.c
index 8013f233462d47acd4410a6b9462aea292b43efb..7c3296cdadb96d435177feb94776f50ff86d16a6 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdev.c
+++ b/src/util/virnetdev.c
@@ -1000,6 +1000,9 @@ virNetDevGetVirtualFunctions(const char *pfname,
     char *pci_sysfs_device_link = NULL;
     char *pciConfigAddr = NULL;
 
+    *virt_fns = NULL;
+    *n_vfname = 0;
+
     if (virNetDevSysfsFile(&pf_sysfs_device_link, pfname, "device") < 0)
         return ret;
 
diff --git a/src/util/virpci.c b/src/util/virpci.c
index ba60292f15f6627f3b23c239d52004f4892bb79d..d60bd6ba26d4436ec0cc0ffc260f43c43a57faad 100644
--- a/src/util/virpci.c
+++ b/src/util/virpci.c
@@ -2080,6 +2080,9 @@ virPCIGetVirtualFunctions(const char *sysfs_path,
     VIR_DEBUG("Attempting to get SR IOV virtual functions for device"
               "with sysfs path '%s'", sysfs_path);
 
+    *virtual_functions = NULL;
+    *num_virtual_functions = 0;
+
     dir = opendir(sysfs_path);
     if (dir == NULL) {
         memset(errbuf, '\0', sizeof(errbuf));
@@ -2089,8 +2092,6 @@ virPCIGetVirtualFunctions(const char *sysfs_path,
         return ret;
     }
 
-    *virtual_functions = NULL;
-    *num_virtual_functions = 0;
     while ((entry = readdir(dir))) {
         if (STRPREFIX(entry->d_name, "virtfn")) {
             virPCIDeviceAddress *config_addr = NULL;