diff --git a/servers/slapd/sasl.c b/servers/slapd/sasl.c
index 5f9fa2c6f2..36d8b48c5c 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/sasl.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/sasl.c
@@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ slap_sasl_canonicalize(
 		sasl_out_params_t dummy;
 		int offset = (void *)&dummy.ulen - (void *)&dummy.authid;
 		char **authid = (void *)out_len - offset;
-		if ( !strcmp( in, *authid ) )
+		if ( *authid && !strcmp( in, *authid ) )
 			goto done;
 	}