diff --git a/illumos-utils/src/dumpadm.rs b/illumos-utils/src/dumpadm.rs
index 852d6f2b0a2..b937bcfab78 100644
--- a/illumos-utils/src/dumpadm.rs
+++ b/illumos-utils/src/dumpadm.rs
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ fn savecore() -> Result<Option<OsString>, DumpAdmError> {
     cmd.env_clear();
     cmd.arg("-v");
     let out = cmd.output().map_err(DumpAdmError::ExecSavecore)?;
-    if out.status.success() {
+    if out.status.success() && !out.stdout.is_empty() {
         Ok(Some(OsString::from_vec(out.stdout)))
     } else {
         Err(DumpAdmError::SavecoreFailure(OsString::from_vec(out.stderr)))