diff --git a/nss/XXX-lookup.c b/nss/XXX-lookup.c
index db95937674..bfc57b8e64 100644
--- a/nss/XXX-lookup.c
+++ b/nss/XXX-lookup.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
    License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
    <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
 
+#include <assert.h>
 #include "nsswitch.h"
 
 /*******************************************************************\
@@ -54,6 +55,10 @@ DB_LOOKUP_FCT (nss_action_list *ni, const char *fct_name, const char *fct2_name,
 
   *ni = DATABASE_NAME_SYMBOL;
 
+  /* We want to know about it if we've somehow got a NULL action list;
+   in the past, we had bad state if seccomp interfered with setup. */
+  assert(*ni != NULL);
+
   return __nss_lookup (ni, fct_name, fct2_name, fctp);
 }
 libc_hidden_def (DB_LOOKUP_FCT)