diff --git a/libdiscover/backends/FwupdBackend/FwupdBackend.cpp b/libdiscover/backends/FwupdBackend/FwupdBackend.cpp
--- a/libdiscover/backends/FwupdBackend/FwupdBackend.cpp
+++ b/libdiscover/backends/FwupdBackend/FwupdBackend.cpp
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@
 void FwupdBackend::handleError(GError *perror)
 {
     //TODO: localise the error message
-    if (!g_error_matches(perror, FWUPD_ERROR, FWUPD_ERROR_INVALID_FILE) && !g_error_matches(perror, FWUPD_ERROR, FWUPD_ERROR_NOTHING_TO_DO)) {
+    if (perror && !g_error_matches(perror, FWUPD_ERROR, FWUPD_ERROR_INVALID_FILE) && !g_error_matches(perror, FWUPD_ERROR, FWUPD_ERROR_NOTHING_TO_DO)) {
         const QString msg = QString::fromUtf8(perror->message);
         QTimer::singleShot(0, this, [this, msg](){
             Q_EMIT passiveMessage(msg);