diff --git a/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c b/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
index 9479e64934..ee917fdf6e 100644
--- a/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
+++ b/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
@@ -1780,6 +1780,7 @@ done2:
 		}
 	}
 
+	nm_assert (ptr && ptr[0]);
 	return ptr;
 }