diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
index 0f3fd0de4..476927105 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -1127,10 +1127,11 @@ spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 	pthread_t tid;
 	const char *basename = arg1;
 
-	if (basename) {
+	if (basename && strlen(basename) > 0) {
 		ret = snprintf(dev_dirname, sizeof(dev_dirname) - 2, "%s", basename);
-		if ((size_t)ret >= sizeof(dev_dirname) - 2)
+		if ((size_t)ret >= sizeof(dev_dirname) - 2) {
 			rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE, "Char dev dir path length %d is too long\n", ret);
+		}
 
 		if (dev_dirname[ret - 1] != '/') {
 			dev_dirname[ret] = '/';