diff --git a/lib/netdev-dpdk.c b/lib/netdev-dpdk.c
index 02cef6e4513..7cced0f2263 100644
--- a/lib/netdev-dpdk.c
+++ b/lib/netdev-dpdk.c
@@ -4637,10 +4637,11 @@ netdev_dpdk_get_mempool_info(struct unixctl_conn *conn,
                              int argc, const char *argv[],
                              void *aux OVS_UNUSED)
 {
-    size_t size;
-    FILE *stream;
-    char *response = NULL;
     struct netdev *netdev = NULL;
+    const char *error = NULL;
+    char *response = NULL;
+    FILE *stream;
+    size_t size;
 
     if (argc == 2) {
         netdev = netdev_from_name(argv[1]);
@@ -4664,10 +4665,14 @@ netdev_dpdk_get_mempool_info(struct unixctl_conn *conn,
         ovs_mutex_lock(&dev->mutex);
         ovs_mutex_lock(&dpdk_mp_mutex);
 
-        rte_mempool_dump(stream, dev->dpdk_mp->mp);
-        fprintf(stream, "    count: avail (%u), in use (%u)\n",
-                rte_mempool_avail_count(dev->dpdk_mp->mp),
-                rte_mempool_in_use_count(dev->dpdk_mp->mp));
+        if (dev->dpdk_mp) {
+            rte_mempool_dump(stream, dev->dpdk_mp->mp);
+            fprintf(stream, "    count: avail (%u), in use (%u)\n",
+                    rte_mempool_avail_count(dev->dpdk_mp->mp),
+                    rte_mempool_in_use_count(dev->dpdk_mp->mp));
+        } else {
+            error = "Not allocated";
+        }
 
         ovs_mutex_unlock(&dpdk_mp_mutex);
         ovs_mutex_unlock(&dev->mutex);
@@ -4679,7 +4684,11 @@ netdev_dpdk_get_mempool_info(struct unixctl_conn *conn,
 
     fclose(stream);
 
-    unixctl_command_reply(conn, response);
+    if (error) {
+        unixctl_command_reply_error(conn, error);
+    } else {
+        unixctl_command_reply(conn, response);
+    }
 out:
     free(response);
     netdev_close(netdev);
diff --git a/tests/system-dpdk.at b/tests/system-dpdk.at
index 1c97bf77720..e79c755657a 100644
--- a/tests/system-dpdk.at
+++ b/tests/system-dpdk.at
@@ -88,6 +88,12 @@ ADD_VHOST_USER_CLIENT_PORT([br10], [dpdkvhostuserclient0], [$OVS_RUNDIR/dpdkvhos
 AT_CHECK([ovs-vsctl show], [], [stdout])
 sleep 2
 
+dnl Check that no mempool was allocated.
+AT_CHECK([ovs-appctl netdev-dpdk/get-mempool-info dpdkvhostuserclient0], [2], [], [dnl
+Not allocated
+ovs-appctl: ovs-vswitchd: server returned an error
+])
+
 dnl Clean up
 AT_CHECK([ovs-vsctl del-port br10 dpdkvhostuserclient0], [], [stdout], [stderr])
 OVS_DPDK_STOP_VSWITCHD(["dnl