diff --git a/dbus/dbus-gvalue.c b/dbus/dbus-gvalue.c
index 0e7400e..6639e52 100644
--- a/dbus/dbus-gvalue.c
+++ b/dbus/dbus-gvalue.c
@@ -1337,12 +1337,15 @@ marshal_strv (DBusMessageIter   *iter,
                                         &subiter))
     goto out;
 
-  for (elt = array; *elt; elt++)
+  if (array)
     {
-      if (!dbus_message_iter_append_basic (&subiter,
-                                          DBUS_TYPE_STRING,
-                                          elt))
-       goto out;
+    for (elt = array; *elt; elt++)
+      {
+        if (!dbus_message_iter_append_basic (&subiter,
+                                          DBUS_TYPE_STRING,
+                                          elt))
+             goto out;
+      }
     }
 
   if (!dbus_message_iter_close_container (iter, &subiter))