diff --git a/src/wayland/weston-launch.c b/src/wayland/weston-launch.c
index 71c753093..e848d845a 100644
--- a/src/wayland/weston-launch.c
+++ b/src/wayland/weston-launch.c
@@ -737,6 +737,8 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if ((argc - optind) > (MAX_ARGV_SIZE - 6))
 		error(1, E2BIG, "Too many arguments to pass to weston");
 
+	if (optind >= argc)
+		error(1, 0, "Expected program argument");
 	if (strcmp (argv[optind], "mutter-wayland") &&
 	    strcmp (argv[optind], "gnome-shell-wayland"))
 	  error(1, 0, "mutter-launch can only be used to launch mutter or gnome-shell");