diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 8885b1dc8d..8255100b0b 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ virHookPresent;
 # interface.h
 ifaceCheck;
 virNetDevGetIndex;
-ifaceGetIPAddress;
+virNetDevGetIPv4Address;
 ifaceGetNthParent;
 ifaceGetPhysicalFunction;
 ifaceGetVirtualFunctionIndex;
diff --git a/src/network/bridge_driver.c b/src/network/bridge_driver.c
index 5c84d86d37..f19bf51e34 100644
--- a/src/network/bridge_driver.c
+++ b/src/network/bridge_driver.c
@@ -3148,13 +3148,10 @@ networkGetNetworkAddress(const char *netname, char **netaddr)
     }
 
     if (dev_name) {
-        if (ifaceGetIPAddress(dev_name, &addr)) {
-            virReportSystemError(errno,
-                                 _("Failed to get IP address for '%s' (network '%s')"),
-                                 dev_name, netdef->name);
-        } else {
-            addrptr = &addr;
-        }
+        if (virNetDevGetIPv4Address(dev_name, &addr) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+
+        addrptr = &addr;
     }
 
     if (addrptr &&
diff --git a/src/util/interface.c b/src/util/interface.c
index 9762145f38..4e1ee25930 100644
--- a/src/util/interface.c
+++ b/src/util/interface.c
@@ -142,60 +142,64 @@ ifaceCheck(bool reportError ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
 
 
 /**
- * ifaceGetIPAddress:
+ * virNetDevGetIPv4Address:
  * @ifname: name of the interface whose IP address we want
- * @macaddr: MAC address (VIR_MAC_BUFLEN in size)
+ * @addr: filled with the IPv4 address
  *
- * This function gets the @macaddr for a given interface @ifname.
+ * This function gets the IPv4 address for the interface @ifname
+ * and stores it in @addr
  *
  * Returns 0 on success, -errno on failure.
  */
 #ifdef __linux__
-int
-ifaceGetIPAddress(const char *ifname,
-                  virSocketAddrPtr addr)
+int virNetDevGetIPv4Address(const char *ifname,
+                            virSocketAddrPtr addr)
 {
     struct ifreq ifr;
     int fd;
     int rc = 0;
 
-    if (!ifname || !addr)
-        return -EINVAL;
-
     memset (addr, 0, sizeof(*addr));
     addr->data.stor.ss_family = AF_UNSPEC;
 
     fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
-    if (fd < 0)
-        return -errno;
+    if (fd < 0) {
+        virReportSystemError(errno, "%s",
+                             _("Unable to open control socket"));
+        return -1;
+    }
 
     memset(&ifr, 0, sizeof(struct ifreq));
     if (virStrcpyStatic(ifr.ifr_name, ifname) == NULL) {
-        rc = -EINVAL;
-        goto err_exit;
+        virReportSystemError(ERANGE,
+                             _("invalid interface name %s"),
+                             ifname);
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (ioctl(fd, SIOCGIFADDR, (char *)&ifr) != 0) {
-        rc = -errno;
-        goto err_exit;
+    if (ioctl(fd, SIOCGIFADDR, (char *)&ifr) < 0) {
+        virReportSystemError(errno,
+                             _("Unable to get IPv4 address for interface %s"), ifname);
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
     addr->data.stor.ss_family = AF_INET;
     addr->len = sizeof(addr->data.inet4);
     memcpy(&addr->data.inet4, &ifr.ifr_addr, addr->len);
 
-err_exit:
+cleanup:
     VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
     return rc;
 }
 
 #else
 
-int
-ifaceGetIPAddress(const char *ifname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
-                  virSocketAddrPtr addr ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+int virNetDevGetIPv4Address(const char *ifname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
+                            virSocketAddrPtr addr ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
-    return -ENOSYS;
+    virReportSystemError(ENOSYS, "%s",
+                         _("Unable to get IPv4 address on this platform"));
+    return -1;
 }
 
 #endif /* __linux__ */
diff --git a/src/util/interface.h b/src/util/interface.h
index aa70192012..0a11ecdbc9 100644
--- a/src/util/interface.h
+++ b/src/util/interface.h
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ struct nlattr;
 int ifaceCheck(bool reportError, const char *ifname,
                const unsigned char *macaddr, int ifindex);
 
-int ifaceGetIPAddress(const char *ifname, virSocketAddrPtr addr);
+int virNetDevGetIPv4Address(const char *ifname, virSocketAddrPtr addr)
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
 int ifaceMacvtapLinkDump(bool nltarget_kernel, const char *ifname, int ifindex,
                          struct nlattr **tb, unsigned char **recvbuf,