diff --git a/src/lib-config/get.c b/src/lib-config/get.c
index 2f1e90e1..af02b048 100644
--- a/src/lib-config/get.c
+++ b/src/lib-config/get.c
@@ -109,6 +109,12 @@ CONFIG_NODE *config_node_traverse(CONFIG_REC *rec, const char *section, int crea
 	}
 	g_strfreev(list);
 
+        if (!is_node_list(node)) {
+		/* Will die. Better to not corrupt the config further in this case. */
+		g_error("Attempt to use non-list node as list. Corrupt config?");
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	/* save to cache */
         str = g_strdup(section);
 	g_hash_table_insert(rec->cache, str, node);