diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 60dbbcb347d8d3b465230074da34d284db63f42c..7511e7036c1f3a932b5510d599d5e9ba93a63ff8 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -3491,11 +3491,16 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
             }
             case QEMU_OPTION_acpitable:
                 opts = qemu_opts_parse(qemu_find_opts("acpi"), optarg, 1);
-                g_assert(opts != NULL);
+                if (!opts) {
+                    exit(1);
+                }
                 do_acpitable_option(opts);
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_smbios:
                 opts = qemu_opts_parse(qemu_find_opts("smbios"), optarg, 0);
+                if (!opts) {
+                    exit(1);
+                }
                 do_smbios_option(opts);
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_enable_kvm: