diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 2f8e5d2580..02048c7789 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -5231,6 +5231,11 @@ virDomainChrDefParseTargetXML(virCapsPtr caps,
             addrStr = virXMLPropString(cur, "address");
             portStr = virXMLPropString(cur, "port");
 
+            if (VIR_ALLOC(def->target.addr) < 0) {
+                virReportOOMError();
+                goto error;
+            }
+
             if (addrStr == NULL) {
                 virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
                                _("guestfwd channel does not "
@@ -5238,11 +5243,6 @@ virDomainChrDefParseTargetXML(virCapsPtr caps,
                 goto error;
             }
 
-            if (VIR_ALLOC(def->target.addr) < 0) {
-                virReportOOMError();
-                goto error;
-            }
-
             if (virSocketAddrParse(def->target.addr, addrStr, AF_UNSPEC) < 0)
                 goto error;