diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 3d9e0e580c..f083f3f329 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -2862,7 +2862,8 @@ qemuProcessCleanupChardevDevice(virDomainDefPtr def ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                                 void *opaque ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
     if (dev->source.type == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UNIX &&
-        dev->source.data.nix.listen)
+        dev->source.data.nix.listen &&
+        dev->source.data.nix.path)
         unlink(dev->source.data.nix.path);
 
     return 0;