diff --git a/src/journal/journald-syslog.c b/src/journal/journald-syslog.c
index 8e034c8fa9c..2d2c1b9db2c 100644
--- a/src/journal/journald-syslog.c
+++ b/src/journal/journald-syslog.c
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ size_t syslog_parse_identifier(const char **buf, char **identifier, char **pid)
         if (t)
                 *identifier = t;
 
-        if (strchr(WHITESPACE, p[e]))
+        if (p[e] != '\0' && strchr(WHITESPACE, p[e]))
                 e++;
         *buf = p + e;
         return e;