diff --git a/libs/gst/net/gstnettimeprovider.c b/libs/gst/net/gstnettimeprovider.c
index 446e610351..a3e80e0083 100644
--- a/libs/gst/net/gstnettimeprovider.c
+++ b/libs/gst/net/gstnettimeprovider.c
@@ -373,8 +373,11 @@ gst_net_time_provider_start (GstNetTimeProvider * self)
   my_addr.sin_family = AF_INET; /* host byte order */
   my_addr.sin_port = htons ((gint16) self->port);       /* short, network byte order */
   my_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY;
-  if (self->address)
-    inet_aton (self->address, &my_addr.sin_addr);
+  if (self->address) {
+    ret = inet_aton (self->address, &my_addr.sin_addr);
+    if (ret == 0)
+      goto invalid_address_error;
+  }
 
   GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (self, "binding on port %d", self->port);
   ret =
@@ -428,6 +431,14 @@ setsockopt_error:
         g_strerror (errno), errno);
     return FALSE;
   }
+invalid_address_error:
+  {
+    close (self->priv->sock.fd);
+    self->priv->sock.fd = -1;
+    GST_ERROR_OBJECT (self, "invalid network address %s: %s (%d)",
+        self->address, g_strerror (errno), errno);
+    return FALSE;
+  }
 bind_error:
   {
     close (self->priv->sock.fd);