diff --git a/src/shell-recorder.c b/src/shell-recorder.c
index 0171045de..9df14d3ea 100644
--- a/src/shell-recorder.c
+++ b/src/shell-recorder.c
@@ -393,6 +393,8 @@ recorder_fetch_cursor_image (ShellRecorder *recorder)
     return;
 
   cursor_image = XFixesGetCursorImage (clutter_x11_get_default_display ());
+  if (!cursor_image)
+    return;
 
   recorder->cursor_hot_x = cursor_image->xhot;
   recorder->cursor_hot_y = cursor_image->yhot;
diff --git a/src/shell-xfixes-cursor.c b/src/shell-xfixes-cursor.c
index 0da2397c6..6507d19a8 100644
--- a/src/shell-xfixes-cursor.c
+++ b/src/shell-xfixes-cursor.c
@@ -202,6 +202,8 @@ xfixes_cursor_reset_image (ShellXFixesCursor *xfixes_cursor)
     return;
 
   cursor_image = XFixesGetCursorImage (clutter_x11_get_default_display ());
+  if (!cursor_image)
+    return;
 
   /* Like all X APIs, XFixesGetCursorImage() returns arrays of 32-bit
    * quantities as arrays of long; we need to convert on 64 bit */