diff --git a/tools/virt-login-shell-helper.c b/tools/virt-login-shell-helper.c
index d9db883ee6..2db349754e 100644
--- a/tools/virt-login-shell-helper.c
+++ b/tools/virt-login-shell-helper.c
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ static int virLoginShellGetShellArgv(virConfPtr conf,
         (*shargv)[0] = g_strdup("/bin/sh");
         *shargvlen = 1;
     } else {
-        *shargvlen = virStringListLength((const char *const *)shargv);
+        *shargvlen = virStringListLength((const char *const *)*shargv);
     }
     return 0;
 }