diff --git a/src/logging.c b/src/logging.c
index 73a9c52..4c86473 100644
--- a/src/logging.c
+++ b/src/logging.c
@@ -361,7 +361,8 @@
 		} else if (target->print_timestamp) {
 			char *timestr;
 			time_t tm;
-			tm = time(NULL);
+			if ((tm = time(NULL)) == (time_t) -1)
+				goto err;
 			timestr = ctime(&tm);
 			timestr[strlen(timestr)-1] = '\0';
 			ret = snprintf(buf + offset, rem, "%s ", timestr);