diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
index d96805a476..606194c581 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
@@ -1223,7 +1223,7 @@ qemuMigrationDriveMirror(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
             virReportOOMError();
             goto error;
         }
-    } else if (VIR_STRDUP(hoststr, host) < 0) {
+    } else if ((hoststr = strdup(host)) == NULL) {
         goto error;
     }