diff --git a/src/libudev/libudev-hwdb.c b/src/libudev/libudev-hwdb.c
index 751b34209e..6779e45b4e 100644
--- a/src/libudev/libudev-hwdb.c
+++ b/src/libudev/libudev-hwdb.c
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ bool udev_hwdb_validate(struct udev_hwdb *hwdb) {
 _public_ struct udev_list_entry *udev_hwdb_get_properties_list_entry(struct udev_hwdb *hwdb, const char *modalias, unsigned int flags) {
         int err;
 
-        if (!hwdb->f) {
+        if (!hwdb || !hwdb->f) {
                 errno = EINVAL;
                 return NULL;
         }
diff --git a/src/udev/udev-builtin-hwdb.c b/src/udev/udev-builtin-hwdb.c
index 234448cdf1..0b35d799fe 100644
--- a/src/udev/udev-builtin-hwdb.c
+++ b/src/udev/udev-builtin-hwdb.c
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ int udev_builtin_hwdb_lookup(struct udev_device *dev, const char *modalias, bool
         struct udev_list_entry *entry;
         int n = 0;
 
+        if (!hwdb)
+                return -ENOENT;
+
         udev_list_entry_foreach(entry, udev_hwdb_get_properties_list_entry(hwdb, modalias, 0)) {
                 if (udev_builtin_add_property(dev, test,
                                               udev_list_entry_get_name(entry),