diff --git a/dump.c b/dump.c
index a79773d0f7..d2093e141b 100644
--- a/dump.c
+++ b/dump.c
@@ -1536,6 +1536,12 @@ static void dump_init(DumpState *s, int fd, bool has_format,
     fprintf(stderr, "DUMP: total memory to dump: %lu\n", s->total_size);
 #endif
 
+    /* it does not make sense to dump non-existent memory */
+    if (!s->total_size) {
+        error_setg(errp, "dump: no guest memory to dump");
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     s->start = get_start_block(s);
     if (s->start == -1) {
         error_setg(errp, QERR_INVALID_PARAMETER, "begin");