diff --git a/src/lxc/conf.c b/src/lxc/conf.c
index a98fbefb6..37c0cb4dd 100644
--- a/src/lxc/conf.c
+++ b/src/lxc/conf.c
@@ -2135,6 +2135,11 @@ struct lxc_conf *lxc_conf_init(void)
 	new->console.name[0] = '\0';
 	new->maincmd_fd = -1;
 	new->rootfs.mount = strdup(default_rootfs_mount);
+	if (!new->rootfs.mount) {
+		ERROR("lxc_conf_init : %m");
+		free(new);
+		return NULL;
+	}
 	new->kmsg = 1;
 	lxc_list_init(&new->cgroup);
 	lxc_list_init(&new->network);