diff --git a/src/core/nm-core-utils.c b/src/core/nm-core-utils.c
index 9075c30dd0..eed8cd7ec1 100644
--- a/src/core/nm-core-utils.c
+++ b/src/core/nm-core-utils.c
@@ -1956,7 +1956,8 @@ nm_wildcard_match_check(const char *str, const char *const *patterns, guint num_
 
         _pattern_parse(patterns[i], &p, &is_inverted, &is_mandatory);
 
-        match = (fnmatch(p, str, 0) == 0);
+        match = (fnmatch(p, str ?: "", 0) == 0);
+
         if (is_inverted)
             match = !match;