diff --git a/src/core/abi.cc b/src/core/abi.cc
index 76c664c..b5bd9c9 100644
--- a/src/core/abi.cc
+++ b/src/core/abi.cc
@@ -36,13 +36,15 @@ bool scan_abi(hwNode & system)
     struct dirent **namelist;
 
     n = scandir(".", &namelist, selectfile, alphasort);
-    for(i=0; i<n; i++)
-    {
-      system.addCapability(namelist[i]->d_name);
-      free(namelist[i]);
+    if (n > 0) {
+      for(i=0; i<n; i++)
+	{
+	  system.addCapability(namelist[i]->d_name);
+	  free(namelist[i]);
+	}
+      if(namelist)
+	free(namelist);
     }
-    if(namelist)
-      free(namelist);
   }
 
   popd();