diff --git a/src/util/virdbus.c b/src/util/virdbus.c
index 1cf1eef39ad84f8ec7760690b2a4770c238636c1..78fb7953dca2e6ae9716b95a516ddadf1e73f36b 100644
--- a/src/util/virdbus.c
+++ b/src/util/virdbus.c
@@ -544,6 +544,10 @@ static void virDBusTypeStackFree(virDBusTypeStack **stack,
                                  size_t *nstack)
 {
     size_t i;
+
+    if (!*stack)
+        return;
+
     /* The iter in the first level of the stack is the
      * root iter which must not be freed
      */