diff --git a/src/locale/test-localed-util.c b/src/locale/test-localed-util.c
index 8e41406298a..9bcc8020096 100644
--- a/src/locale/test-localed-util.c
+++ b/src/locale/test-localed-util.c
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ TEST(vconsole_convert_to_x11) {
         ASSERT_OK(vconsole_convert_to_x11(&vc, x11_context_verify, &xc));
         ASSERT_TRUE(x11_context_isempty(&xc));
 
+        log_info("/* test leading-dash keymap */");
+        ASSERT_OK(free_and_strdup(&vc.keymap, "-foo"));
+        ASSERT_ERROR(vconsole_convert_to_x11(&vc, x11_context_verify, &xc), EINVAL);
+        ASSERT_TRUE(x11_context_isempty(&xc));
+
         log_info("/* test without variant, new mapping (es:) */");
         ASSERT_OK(free_and_strdup(&vc.keymap, "es"));
         ASSERT_OK(vconsole_convert_to_x11(&vc, x11_context_verify, &xc));
@@ -148,6 +153,11 @@ TEST(x11_convert_to_vconsole) {
         ASSERT_OK(x11_convert_to_vconsole(&xc, &vc));
         ASSERT_TRUE(vc_context_isempty(&vc));
 
+        log_info("/* test leading-comma layout */");
+        ASSERT_OK(free_and_strdup(&xc.layout, ",us"));
+        ASSERT_ERROR(x11_convert_to_vconsole(&xc, &vc), EINVAL);
+        ASSERT_TRUE(vc_context_isempty(&vc));
+
         log_info("/* test without variant, new mapping (es:) */");
         ASSERT_OK(free_and_strdup(&xc.layout, "es"));
         ASSERT_OK(x11_convert_to_vconsole(&xc, &vc));
diff --git a/src/shared/vconsole-util.c b/src/shared/vconsole-util.c
index 9e56ce823df..a780b273aab 100644
--- a/src/shared/vconsole-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/vconsole-util.c
@@ -352,9 +352,11 @@ int find_converted_keymap(const X11Context *xc, char **ret) {
         int r;
 
         assert(xc);
-        assert(!isempty(xc->layout));
         assert(ret);
 
+        if (isempty(xc->layout))
+                return -EINVAL;
+
         if (xc->variant)
                 n = strjoin(xc->layout, "-", xc->variant);
         else