diff --git a/main/logger.c b/main/logger.c
index d01e96ee8d..d895b7af49 100644
--- a/main/logger.c
+++ b/main/logger.c
@@ -1383,6 +1383,9 @@ char **ast_bt_get_symbols(void **addresses, size_t num_frames)
 					continue;
 				}
 
+                                /* file can possibly be null even with a success result from bfd_find_nearest_line */
+                                file = file ? file : "";
+
 				/* Stack trace output */
 				found++;
 				if ((lastslash = strrchr(file, '/'))) {