diff --git a/src/plugins/kdb/ldap/libkdb_ldap/ldap_principal2.c b/src/plugins/kdb/ldap/libkdb_ldap/ldap_principal2.c
index 6e591e19742..79c4cf05cc2 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kdb/ldap/libkdb_ldap/ldap_principal2.c
+++ b/src/plugins/kdb/ldap/libkdb_ldap/ldap_principal2.c
@@ -296,6 +296,7 @@ process_db_args(krb5_context context, char **db_args, xargs_t *xargs,
     if (db_args) {
         for (i=0; db_args[i]; ++i) {
             arg = strtok_r(db_args[i], "=", &arg_val);
+            arg = (arg != NULL) ? arg : "";
             if (strcmp(arg, TKTPOLICY_ARG) == 0) {
                 dptr = &xargs->tktpolicydn;
             } else {