diff --git a/bind8/bind8-lib.pl b/bind8/bind8-lib.pl
index 14f581e95..5ed5228ac 100755
--- a/bind8/bind8-lib.pl
+++ b/bind8/bind8-lib.pl
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ sub get_bind_version
 {
 if (&has_command($config{'named_path'})) {
 	my $out = &backquote_command("$config{'named_path'} -v 2>&1");
-	if ($out =~ /(bind|named)\s+([0-9\.]+)/i) {
+	if ($out && $out =~ /(bind|named)\s+([0-9\.]+)/i) {
 		return $2;
 		}
 	}