diff --git a/lib/pager.c b/lib/pager.c
index 04111bab7..4c0197f43 100644
--- a/lib/pager.c
+++ b/lib/pager.c
@@ -192,6 +192,8 @@ static int has_command(const char *cmd)
 
 	for(s = strtok(p, ":"); s; s = strtok(NULL, ":")) {
 		int fd = open(s, O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC);
+		if (fd < 0)
+			continue;
 		rc = faccessat(fd, cmd, X_OK, 0) == 0;
 		close(fd);
 		if (rc)