diff --git a/libpkgconf/cache.c b/libpkgconf/cache.c
index 673ac48..dc1c342 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/cache.c
+++ b/libpkgconf/cache.c
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ cache_dump(const pkgconf_client_t *client)
 pkgconf_pkg_t *
 pkgconf_cache_lookup(pkgconf_client_t *client, const char *id)
 {
+	if (client->cache_table == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+
 	pkgconf_pkg_t **pkg;
 
 	pkg = bsearch(id, client->cache_table,