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();