diff --git a/src/common/libkvs/test/treeobj.c b/src/common/libkvs/test/treeobj.c
index c392d84a6d9f..14f433b69b0c 100644
--- a/src/common/libkvs/test/treeobj.c
+++ b/src/common/libkvs/test/treeobj.c
@@ -653,6 +653,9 @@ void test_symlink (void)
 {
     json_t *o, *data;
 
+    ok (treeobj_create_symlink (NULL) == NULL
+        && errno == EINVAL,
+        "treeobj_create_symlink fails on bad input with EINVAL");
     o = treeobj_create_symlink ("a.b.c");
     ok (o != NULL,
         "treeobj_create_symlink works");
diff --git a/src/common/libkvs/treeobj.c b/src/common/libkvs/treeobj.c
index 56026aa731ac..a1d6d977d621 100644
--- a/src/common/libkvs/treeobj.c
+++ b/src/common/libkvs/treeobj.c
@@ -392,6 +392,11 @@ json_t *treeobj_create_symlink (const char *target)
 {
     json_t *obj;
 
+    if (!target) {
+        errno = EINVAL;
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
     if (!(obj = json_pack ("{s:i s:s s:s}", "ver", treeobj_version,
                                             "type", "symlink",
                                             "data", target))) {