diff --git a/src/server/slavefuncs.c b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
--- a/src/server/slavefuncs.c
+++ b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ xmlNodePtr xml_quickxpath(xmlXPathContex
 
   xmlXPathObjectPtr xmlxpathobjptr;
   xmlxpathobjptr = xmlXPathEval(path, xpathctxt);
-  if(!xmlxpathobjptr->nodesetval->nodeNr)
+  if(!xmlxpathobjptr
+     || !xmlxpathobjptr->nodesetval->nodeNr)
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "XPath resolution failed for ``%s'' in ``%s'' (``%s'')\n", path, xpathctxt->doc->name, xpathctxt->doc->URL);
       return (xmlNodePtr)NULL;