diff --git a/src/core/lib/security/credentials/alts/check_gcp_environment_linux.cc b/src/core/lib/security/credentials/alts/check_gcp_environment_linux.cc
index 7c4d7a71cd1..8454fd7558c 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/security/credentials/alts/check_gcp_environment_linux.cc
+++ b/src/core/lib/security/credentials/alts/check_gcp_environment_linux.cc
@@ -41,8 +41,9 @@ namespace internal {
 
 bool check_bios_data(const char* bios_data_file) {
   char* bios_data = read_bios_file(bios_data_file);
-  bool result = (!strcmp(bios_data, GRPC_ALTS_EXPECT_NAME_GOOGLE)) ||
-                (!strcmp(bios_data, GRPC_ALTS_EXPECT_NAME_GCE));
+  bool result =
+      bios_data && ((!strcmp(bios_data, GRPC_ALTS_EXPECT_NAME_GOOGLE)) ||
+                    (!strcmp(bios_data, GRPC_ALTS_EXPECT_NAME_GCE)));
   gpr_free(bios_data);
   return result;
 }
diff --git a/test/core/security/check_gcp_environment_linux_test.cc b/test/core/security/check_gcp_environment_linux_test.cc
index 3acd5b6ae48..b01471abd34 100644
--- a/test/core/security/check_gcp_environment_linux_test.cc
+++ b/test/core/security/check_gcp_environment_linux_test.cc
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ static void test_gcp_environment_check_failure() {
   GPR_ASSERT(!check_bios_data_linux_test("Amazon"));
   GPR_ASSERT(!check_bios_data_linux_test("Google-Chrome\t\t"));
   GPR_ASSERT(!check_bios_data_linux_test("Amazon"));
+  GPR_ASSERT(!check_bios_data_linux_test("\n"));
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char** argv) {