diff --git a/src/fu-config.c b/src/fu-config.c
index db926164b..128aa7c71 100644
--- a/src/fu-config.c
+++ b/src/fu-config.c
@@ -256,10 +256,14 @@ fu_config_add_remotes_for_path (FuConfig *self, const gchar *path, GError **erro
 				return FALSE;
 
 			/* replace any dynamic values from os-release */
-			as_utils_string_replace (agreement_markup, "$OS_RELEASE:NAME$",
-						 g_hash_table_lookup (self->os_release, "NAME"));
-			as_utils_string_replace (agreement_markup, "$OS_RELEASE:BUG_REPORT_URL$",
-						 g_hash_table_lookup (self->os_release, "BUG_REPORT_URL"));
+			tmp = g_hash_table_lookup (self->os_release, "NAME");
+			if (tmp == NULL)
+				tmp = "this distribution";
+			as_utils_string_replace (agreement_markup, "$OS_RELEASE:NAME$", tmp);
+			tmp = g_hash_table_lookup (self->os_release, "BUG_REPORT_URL");
+			if (tmp == NULL)
+				tmp = "https://github.com/hughsie/fwupd/issues";
+			as_utils_string_replace (agreement_markup, "$OS_RELEASE:BUG_REPORT_URL$", tmp);
 			fwupd_remote_set_agreement (remote, agreement_markup->str);
 		}