diff --git a/contrib/vhost-user-gpu/main.c b/contrib/vhost-user-gpu/main.c
index 9614c9422c..e0b6df5b4d 100644
--- a/contrib/vhost-user-gpu/main.c
+++ b/contrib/vhost-user-gpu/main.c
@@ -1160,6 +1160,10 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
     if (opt_socket_path) {
         int lsock = unix_listen(opt_socket_path, &error_fatal);
+        if (lsock < 0) {
+            g_printerr("Failed to listen on %s.\n", opt_socket_path);
+            exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
         fd = accept(lsock, NULL, NULL);
         close(lsock);
     } else {
diff --git a/contrib/vhost-user-input/main.c b/contrib/vhost-user-input/main.c
index 8d493f598e..8b854117f5 100644
--- a/contrib/vhost-user-input/main.c
+++ b/contrib/vhost-user-input/main.c
@@ -367,6 +367,10 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
     if (opt_socket_path) {
         int lsock = unix_listen(opt_socket_path, &error_fatal);
+        if (lsock < 0) {
+            g_printerr("Failed to listen on %s.\n", opt_socket_path);
+            exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
         fd = accept(lsock, NULL, NULL);
         close(lsock);
     } else {