diff --git a/servers/slapd/back-ldbm/index.c b/servers/slapd/back-ldbm/index.c
index 54ad4442b7..baa197b3a3 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/back-ldbm/index.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/back-ldbm/index.c
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ static int index_at_values(
 			mask );
 	}
 
-	if( lang ) {
+	if( lang->bv_len ) {
 		char *dbname = NULL;
 		size_t tlen = strlen( type->sat_cname );
 		size_t llen = lang->bv_len;