diff --git a/src/irc/core/irc-servers-setup.c b/src/irc/core/irc-servers-setup.c
index 360578a9..19ce12f6 100644
--- a/src/irc/core/irc-servers-setup.c
+++ b/src/irc/core/irc-servers-setup.c
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ static void read_password_file(char *str, char **password)
 		/* file not found */
 		g_warning("Could not read sasl password from file: %s", (err ? err->message : "No GError set"));
 		g_error_free(err);
+		*password = g_strdup("");
 		return;
 	}