diff --git a/0001-tree-handle-no-address-phy-slot-dirs.patch b/0001-tree-handle-no-address-phy-slot-dirs.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6fcdca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/0001-tree-handle-no-address-phy-slot-dirs.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+From 49a4cd8f62d05bb4e1b6e1365bad638c366cdba9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Greg Joyce <gjoyce@linux.ibm.com>
+Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2024 01:04:42 +0530
+Subject: [PATCH] tree: handle no address phy slot dirs
+
+Not all directories have an address. Verify addr before calling
+strcmp().
+
+Fixes: 42ac45359635 ("tree: Add PCI physical slot number for controller")
+Signed-off-by: Greg Joyce <gjoyce@linux.ibm.com>
+---
+ src/nvme/tree.c | 4 ++++
+ 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)
+
+diff --git a/src/nvme/tree.c b/src/nvme/tree.c
+index 288b23c73a1b..b0ee94047634 100644
+--- a/src/nvme/tree.c
++++ b/src/nvme/tree.c
+@@ -1867,6 +1867,10 @@ static char *nvme_ctrl_lookup_phy_slot(nvme_root_t r, const char *address)
+ 				return NULL;
+ 			}
+ 			addr = nvme_get_attr(path, "address");
++
++			/* some directories don't have an address entry */
++			if (!addr)
++				continue;
+ 			if (strcmp(addr, target_addr) == 0)
+ 				return strdup(entry->d_name);
+ 		}
+-- 
+2.43.0
+
diff --git a/libnvme.spec b/libnvme.spec
index 509ebfd..a181fd4 100644
--- a/libnvme.spec
+++ b/libnvme.spec
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@
 Name:    libnvme
 Summary: Linux-native nvme device management library
 Version: 1.9
-Release: 2%{?dist}
+Release: 3%{?dist}
 License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
 URL:     https://github.com/linux-nvme/libnvme
 Source0: %{url}/archive/v%{version_no_tilde}/%{name}-%{version_no_tilde}.tar.gz
 
 # https://issues.redhat.com/browse/RHEL-37608
 Patch0:  libnvme-1.10-uriparser.patch
+Patch1:  0001-tree-handle-no-address-phy-slot-dirs.patch
 
 BuildRequires: gcc gcc-c++
 BuildRequires: swig
@@ -96,6 +97,9 @@ mv %{buildroot}/usr/*.rst %{buildroot}%{_pkgdocdir}/
 %{python3_sitearch}/libnvme/*
 
 %changelog
+* Thu Aug 01 2024 Maurizio Lombardi <mlombard@redhat.com> - 1.9-3
+- Backport fix for RHEL-49544
+
 * Wed Jul 24 2024 Tomas Bzatek <tbzatek@redhat.com> - 1.9-2
 - Backport URI parser API