diff --git a/src/x509/clu_request_setup.c b/src/x509/clu_request_setup.c
index 0989e24..1de6878 100644
--- a/src/x509/clu_request_setup.c
+++ b/src/x509/clu_request_setup.c
@@ -598,11 +598,18 @@ int wolfCLU_requestSetup(int argc, char** argv)
                 break;
 
             case WOLFCLU_NEWKEY:
-                if (XSTRSTR(optarg, ":") == NULL) {
-                    wolfCLU_LogError("key string does not have ':'");
+                if (optarg == NULL) {
+                    wolfCLU_LogError("no key string");
                     ret = WOLFCLU_FATAL_ERROR;
                 }
 
+                if (ret == WOLFCLU_SUCCESS) {
+                    if (XSTRSTR(optarg, ":") == NULL) {
+                        wolfCLU_LogError("key string does not have ':'");
+                        ret = WOLFCLU_FATAL_ERROR;
+                    }
+                }
+
                 if (ret == WOLFCLU_SUCCESS) {
                     int idx;