diff --git a/src/util/virhostdev.c b/src/util/virhostdev.c
index e84a6d608239a01cb38c8d7ff73de54fb6689bf5..faa46aa83aaee8f020ad7f9a421d5d03fbe2cd9d 100644
--- a/src/util/virhostdev.c
+++ b/src/util/virhostdev.c
@@ -317,8 +317,21 @@ virHostdevNetDevice(virDomainHostdevDefPtr hostdev, char **linkdev,
                                          vf) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
     } else {
+        /* In practice this should never happen, since we currently
+         * only support assigning SRIOV VFs via <interface
+         * type='hostdev'>, and it is only those devices that should
+         * end up calling this function.
+         */
         if (virPCIGetNetName(sysfs_path, linkdev) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
+
+        if (!linkdev) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                           _("The device at %s has no network device name"),
+                             sysfs_path);
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+
         *vf = -1;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/util/virnetdev.c b/src/util/virnetdev.c
index 05557ad672fac7a97d9458dd09c83921d0f60f1a..ac5200035ad93edfca905fb36f23d8d07086b85a 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdev.c
+++ b/src/util/virnetdev.c
@@ -1231,6 +1231,9 @@ virNetDevGetVirtualFunctions(const char *pfname,
         }
 
         if (virPCIGetNetName(pci_sysfs_device_link, &((*vfname)[i])) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+
+        if (!(*vfname)[i])
             VIR_INFO("VF does not have an interface name");
     }
 
@@ -1327,10 +1330,22 @@ virNetDevGetPhysicalFunction(const char *ifname, char **pfname)
     if (virNetDevSysfsDeviceFile(&physfn_sysfs_path, ifname, "physfn") < 0)
         return ret;
 
-    ret = virPCIGetNetName(physfn_sysfs_path, pfname);
+    if (virPCIGetNetName(physfn_sysfs_path, pfname) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
 
-    VIR_FREE(physfn_sysfs_path);
+    if (!*pfname) {
+        /* this shouldn't be possible. A VF can't exist unless its
+         * PF device is bound to a network driver
+         */
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("The PF device for VF %s has no network device name"),
+                       ifname);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
 
+    ret = 0;
+ cleanup:
+    VIR_FREE(physfn_sysfs_path);
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util/virpci.c b/src/util/virpci.c
index 3c1e13b6a5a4218b7ad1fe87d20bf227fc921b41..337afdab51c3e328b966e1cd945209f0a546fcf6 100644
--- a/src/util/virpci.c
+++ b/src/util/virpci.c
@@ -2854,8 +2854,11 @@ virPCIGetNetName(char *device_link_sysfs_path, char **netname)
         return -1;
     }
 
-    if (virDirOpenQuiet(&dir, pcidev_sysfs_net_path) < 0)
+    if (virDirOpenQuiet(&dir, pcidev_sysfs_net_path) < 0) {
+        /* this *isn't* an error - caller needs to check for netname == NULL */
+        ret = 0;
         goto out;
+    }
 
     while (virDirRead(dir, &entry, pcidev_sysfs_net_path) > 0) {
         /* Assume a single directory entry */
@@ -2881,24 +2884,35 @@ virPCIGetVirtualFunctionInfo(const char *vf_sysfs_device_path,
     int ret = -1;
 
     if (virPCIGetPhysicalFunction(vf_sysfs_device_path, &pf_config_address) < 0)
-        return ret;
+        goto cleanup;
 
     if (!pf_config_address)
-        return ret;
+        goto cleanup;
 
     if (virPCIDeviceAddressGetSysfsFile(pf_config_address,
                                         &pf_sysfs_device_path) < 0) {
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
 
-        VIR_FREE(pf_config_address);
-        return ret;
+    if (virPCIGetVirtualFunctionIndex(pf_sysfs_device_path,
+                                      vf_sysfs_device_path, vf_index) < 0) {
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (virPCIGetVirtualFunctionIndex(pf_sysfs_device_path, vf_sysfs_device_path,
-                                      vf_index) < 0)
+    if (virPCIGetNetName(pf_sysfs_device_path, pfname) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    ret = virPCIGetNetName(pf_sysfs_device_path, pfname);
+    if (!*pfname) {
+        /* this shouldn't be possible. A VF can't exist unless its
+         * PF device is bound to a network driver
+         */
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("The PF device for VF %s has no network device name"),
+                       vf_sysfs_device_path);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
 
+    ret = 0;
  cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(pf_config_address);
     VIR_FREE(pf_sysfs_device_path);