diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c
index 6e0b88e9d7..f9a195d2ed 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c
@@ -4198,14 +4198,15 @@ _public_ int sd_bus_get_description(sd_bus *bus, const char **description) {
         assert_return(bus, -EINVAL);
         assert_return(bus = bus_resolve(bus), -ENOPKG);
         assert_return(description, -EINVAL);
-        assert_return(bus->description, -ENXIO);
         assert_return(!bus_origin_changed(bus), -ECHILD);
 
-        if (bus->description)
-                *description = bus->description;
-        else
-                *description = runtime_scope_to_string(bus->runtime_scope);
+        const char *d = bus->description;
+        if (!d)
+                d = runtime_scope_to_string(bus->runtime_scope);
+        if (!d)
+                return -ENXIO;
 
+        *description = d;
         return 0;
 }