diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 492d31d0..4f4ae899 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2009-04-22  Paul Szabo  <psz@maths.usyd.edu.au>
+
+	* src/login.c: utent might be NULL after get_current_utmp().
+
 2009-04-22  Nicolas François  <nicolas.francois@centraliens.net>
 
 	* src/login.c: Removed temp_shell. No more used.
diff --git a/src/login.c b/src/login.c
index 970180cb..251b526c 100644
--- a/src/login.c
+++ b/src/login.c
@@ -563,6 +563,7 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 		(void) puts (_("No utmp entry.  You must exec \"login\" from the lowest level \"sh\""));
 		exit (1);
 	}
+	/* NOTE: utent might be NULL afterwards */
 
 	tmptty = ttyname (0);
 	if (NULL == tmptty) {
@@ -655,15 +656,12 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 
 	if (rflg || hflg) {
 		cp = hostname;
-	} else {
 #ifdef	HAVE_STRUCT_UTMP_UT_HOST
-		if ('\0' != utent->ut_host[0]) {
-			cp = utent->ut_host;
-		} else
+	} else if ((NULL != utent) && ('\0' != utent->ut_host[0])) {
+		cp = utent->ut_host;
 #endif				/* HAVE_STRUCT_UTMP_UT_HOST */
-		{
-			cp = "";
-		}
+	} else {
+		cp = "";
 	}
 
 	if ('\0' != *cp) {