diff --git a/hw/virtio-serial-bus.c b/hw/virtio-serial-bus.c
index 09e22aa44a..e05ab5e609 100644
--- a/hw/virtio-serial-bus.c
+++ b/hw/virtio-serial-bus.c
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ static void discard_vq_data(VirtQueue *vq, VirtIODevice *vdev)
 {
     VirtQueueElement elem;
 
+    if (!virtio_queue_ready(vq)) {
+        return;
+    }
     while (virtqueue_pop(vq, &elem)) {
         virtqueue_push(vq, &elem, 0);
     }