diff --git a/src/core/lt_path.c b/src/core/lt_path.c
index fce4294..d5b2a87 100644
--- a/src/core/lt_path.c
+++ b/src/core/lt_path.c
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ static int lt_dlpathopen_locked(
 
 	memcpy(path,module,mlen);
 
-	for (ppath=lt_pathv; *ppath; ppath++) {
+	for (ppath=lt_pathv; ppath && *ppath; ppath++) {
 		fdat = open(*ppath,O_RDONLY|O_DIRECTORY|O_CLOEXEC,0);
 
 		if (fdat >= 0) {