diff --git a/qemu-option.c b/qemu-option.c
index 35cd609..2b356ab 100644
--- a/qemu-option.c
+++ b/qemu-option.c
@@ -532,6 +532,7 @@ static QemuOpt *qemu_opt_find(QemuOpts *opts, const char *name)
 {
     QemuOpt *opt;
 
+    if(opts == NULL) return NULL;
     QTAILQ_FOREACH_REVERSE(opt, &opts->head, QemuOptHead, next) {
         if (strcmp(opt->name, name) != 0)
             continue;