diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
index 599a81d64a..8a79867a19 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
@@ -2725,9 +2725,11 @@ _public_ int sd_event_source_get_io_revents(sd_event_source *s, uint32_t *ret) {
         assert_return(s, -EINVAL);
         assert_return(ret, -EINVAL);
         assert_return(s->type == SOURCE_IO, -EDOM);
-        assert_return(s->pending, -ENODATA);
         assert_return(!event_origin_changed(s->event), -ECHILD);
 
+        if (!s->pending)
+                return -ENODATA;
+
         *ret = s->io.revents;
         return 0;
 }