diff --git a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c
index 92df4de731..1bc1e64ba3 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c
@@ -635,6 +635,10 @@ rte_vhost_driver_register(const char *path, uint64_t flags)
 		goto out;
 	memset(vsocket, 0, sizeof(struct vhost_user_socket));
 	vsocket->path = strdup(path);
+	if (!vsocket->path) {
+		free(vsocket);
+		goto out;
+	}
 	TAILQ_INIT(&vsocket->conn_list);
 	pthread_mutex_init(&vsocket->conn_mutex, NULL);
 	vsocket->dequeue_zero_copy = flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY;