diff --git a/ChangeLog.adoc b/ChangeLog.adoc
index d4b318fd7..7b00b62c6 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.adoc
+++ b/ChangeLog.adoc
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ For a list of important changes that require manual actions, please look at rele
 
 Bug fixes::
 
+  * core: fix crash when "config_version" is present in a configuration file without a value
   * core: display an error on startup if environment variable "HOME" is not set
   * ruby: fix use of NULL variable when displaying exception
 
diff --git a/src/core/wee-config-file.c b/src/core/wee-config-file.c
index 849e7c5e2..3f5a72c7c 100644
--- a/src/core/wee-config-file.c
+++ b/src/core/wee-config-file.c
@@ -3155,6 +3155,9 @@ config_file_parse_version (const char *version)
     long number;
     char *error;
 
+    if (!version)
+        return -1;
+
     number = strtoll (version, &error, 10);
     if (!error || error[0])
         return -1;