diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index c6991b50eb916e2ff2ce97428e71ad31c6739ab1..79899e5b4ef984178abf03583a55afdcd9105e53 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -6090,6 +6090,12 @@ static int qemudDomainAttachSCSIDisk(struct qemud_driver *driver,
     if (!(drivestr = qemuBuildDriveStr(disk, 0, qemuCmdFlags)))
         goto error;
 
+    if (disk->info.addr.drive.controller <= 0) {
+        qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                        _("no drive controller for %s"), disk->dst);
+        goto error;
+    }
+
     for (i = 0 ; i <= disk->info.addr.drive.controller ; i++) {
         cont = qemuDomainFindOrCreateSCSIDiskController(driver, vm, i, qemuCmdFlags);
         if (!cont)