diff --git a/src/devices/nm-device.c b/src/devices/nm-device.c
index 36971049dd..dd8f698d52 100644
--- a/src/devices/nm-device.c
+++ b/src/devices/nm-device.c
@@ -10018,7 +10018,7 @@ spec_match_list (NMDevice *self, const GSList *specs)
 			break;
 		}
 	}
-	if (priv->hw_addr_len) {
+	if (priv->hw_addr_len && priv->hw_addr) {
 		m = nm_match_spec_hwaddr (specs, priv->hw_addr);
 		matched = MAX (matched, m);
 	}