diff --git a/lib/util/util_runcmd.c b/lib/util/util_runcmd.c
index c8547de694a..1ec717f5488 100644
--- a/lib/util/util_runcmd.c
+++ b/lib/util/util_runcmd.c
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ struct tevent_req *samba_runcmd_send(TALLOC_CTX *mem_ctx,
 	char **argv;
 	va_list ap;
 
+	if (argv0 == NULL) {
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	req = tevent_req_create(mem_ctx, &state,
 				struct samba_runcmd_state);
 	if (req == NULL) {
diff --git a/lib/util/util_strlist.c b/lib/util/util_strlist.c
index d542e6f74f5..d0be917a5e3 100644
--- a/lib/util/util_strlist.c
+++ b/lib/util/util_strlist.c
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ _PUBLIC_ bool str_list_check(const char **list, const char *s)
 {
 	int i;
 
-	for (i=0;list[i];i++) {
+	for (i=0; list != NULL && list[i] != NULL; i++) {
 		if (strcmp(list[i], s) == 0) return true;
 	}
 	return false;
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ _PUBLIC_ bool str_list_check_ci(const char **list, const char *s)
 {
 	int i;
 
-	for (i=0;list[i];i++) {
+	for (i=0; list != NULL && list[i] != NULL; i++) {
 		if (strcasecmp(list[i], s) == 0) return true;
 	}
 	return false;