diff --git a/src/monitor/process_monitor_main.cpp b/src/monitor/process_monitor_main.cpp
index 06cdd337..90542004 100644
--- a/src/monitor/process_monitor_main.cpp
+++ b/src/monitor/process_monitor_main.cpp
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ namespace monitor
 static void drop_privileges()
 {
     auto orig_user = getpwnam(config().user.c_str());
+    if (orig_user == nullptr)
+    {
+        Log::error() << "No user found with specified username.";
+        throw_errno();
+    }
+
     gid_t original_uid = orig_user->pw_uid;
     uid_t original_gid = orig_user->pw_gid;