diff --git a/bgpd/bgp_ecommunity.c b/bgpd/bgp_ecommunity.c
index 74cbf3a80a..43bfb3e2bc 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgp_ecommunity.c
+++ b/bgpd/bgp_ecommunity.c
@@ -903,7 +903,7 @@ char *ecommunity_ecom2str(struct ecommunity *ecom, int format, int filter)
 	int str_size;
 	char *str_buf;
 
-	if (ecom->size == 0)
+	if (!ecom || ecom->size == 0)
 		return XCALLOC(MTYPE_ECOMMUNITY_STR, 1);
 
 	/* ecom strlen + space + null term */
diff --git a/bgpd/bgp_mplsvpn.c b/bgpd/bgp_mplsvpn.c
index 612c8ceee7..3bc4c03233 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgp_mplsvpn.c
+++ b/bgpd/bgp_mplsvpn.c
@@ -1760,19 +1760,26 @@ void vrf_import_from_vrf(struct bgp *to_bgp, struct bgp *from_bgp,
 
 	if (debug) {
 		const char *from_name;
+		char *ecom1, *ecom2;
 
 		from_name = from_bgp->name ? from_bgp->name :
 			VRF_DEFAULT_NAME;
-		zlog_debug("%s from %s to %s first_export %u import-rt %s export-rt %s",
-			   __func__, from_name, export_name, first_export,
-			   to_bgp->vpn_policy[afi].rtlist[idir] ?
-			   (ecommunity_ecom2str(to_bgp->vpn_policy[afi].
-						rtlist[idir],
-					ECOMMUNITY_FORMAT_ROUTE_MAP, 0)) : " ",
-			   to_bgp->vpn_policy[afi].rtlist[edir] ?
-			   (ecommunity_ecom2str(to_bgp->vpn_policy[afi].
-						rtlist[edir],
-					ECOMMUNITY_FORMAT_ROUTE_MAP, 0)) : " ");
+
+		ecom1 = ecommunity_ecom2str(
+			to_bgp->vpn_policy[afi].rtlist[idir],
+			ECOMMUNITY_FORMAT_ROUTE_MAP, 0);
+
+		ecom2 = ecommunity_ecom2str(
+			to_bgp->vpn_policy[afi].rtlist[edir],
+			ECOMMUNITY_FORMAT_ROUTE_MAP, 0);
+
+		zlog_debug(
+			"%s from %s to %s first_export %u import-rt %s export-rt %s",
+			__func__, from_name, export_name, first_export, ecom1,
+			ecom2);
+
+		ecommunity_strfree(&ecom1);
+		ecommunity_strfree(&ecom2);
 	}
 
 	/* Does "import_vrf" first need to export its routes or that