diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c
index f1799b1b70..ffb14641f9 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c
@@ -1703,7 +1703,15 @@ static target_ulong h_client_architecture_support(PowerPCCPU *cpu,
     ov_table = addr;
 
     ov1_guest = spapr_ovec_parse_vector(ov_table, 1);
+    if (!ov1_guest) {
+        warn_report("guest didn't provide option vector 1");
+        return H_PARAMETER;
+    }
     ov5_guest = spapr_ovec_parse_vector(ov_table, 5);
+    if (!ov5_guest) {
+        warn_report("guest didn't provide option vector 5");
+        return H_PARAMETER;
+    }
     if (spapr_ovec_test(ov5_guest, OV5_MMU_BOTH)) {
         error_report("guest requested hash and radix MMU, which is invalid.");
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);