diff --git a/src/security/security_selinux.c b/src/security/security_selinux.c
index 975b31524b..6680e2d238 100644
--- a/src/security/security_selinux.c
+++ b/src/security/security_selinux.c
@@ -632,7 +632,8 @@ SELinuxReleaseSecurityLabel(virDomainObjPtr vm)
 {
     const virSecurityLabelDefPtr secdef = &vm->def->seclabel;
 
-    if (secdef->type == VIR_DOMAIN_SECLABEL_STATIC)
+    if (secdef->type == VIR_DOMAIN_SECLABEL_STATIC ||
+        secdef->label == NULL)
         return 0;
 
     context_t con = context_new(secdef->label);