diff --git a/metricsd/uploader/metrics_log.cc b/metricsd/uploader/metrics_log.cc
index 39655e637..fcaa8c13c 100644
--- a/metricsd/uploader/metrics_log.cc
+++ b/metricsd/uploader/metrics_log.cc
@@ -85,5 +85,6 @@ void MetricsLog::IncrementUncleanShutdownCount(unsigned int count) {
 }
 
 bool MetricsLog::PopulateSystemProfile(SystemProfileSetter* profile_setter) {
+  CHECK(profile_setter);
   return profile_setter->Populate(uma_proto());
 }
diff --git a/metricsd/uploader/system_profile_cache.cc b/metricsd/uploader/system_profile_cache.cc
index 70f6afd50..e6f661702 100644
--- a/metricsd/uploader/system_profile_cache.cc
+++ b/metricsd/uploader/system_profile_cache.cc
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ bool SystemProfileCache::Initialize() {
   } else {
     reader.Load();
     auto client = update_engine::UpdateEngineClient::CreateInstance();
+    if (!client) {
+      LOG(ERROR) << "failed to create the update engine client";
+      return false;
+    }
     if (!client->GetChannel(&channel)) {
       LOG(ERROR) << "failed to read the current channel from update engine.";
       return false;