diff --git a/src/libsystemd-network/sd-dhcp-server.c b/src/libsystemd-network/sd-dhcp-server.c
index c69572d5b0..a2385ccb89 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd-network/sd-dhcp-server.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd-network/sd-dhcp-server.c
@@ -113,7 +113,8 @@ int sd_dhcp_server_configure_pool(
 }
 
 int sd_dhcp_server_is_running(sd_dhcp_server *server) {
-        assert_return(server, false);
+        if (!server)
+                return false;
 
         return !!server->receive_message;
 }