diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index b3884572d..af2a1c06d 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -2379,8 +2379,10 @@ static CURLcode parse_proxy(struct Curl_easy *data,
 static CURLcode parse_proxy_auth(struct Curl_easy *data,
                                  struct connectdata *conn)
 {
-  char *proxyuser = data->set.str[STRING_PROXYUSERNAME];
-  char *proxypasswd = data->set.str[STRING_PROXYPASSWORD];
+  const char *proxyuser = data->set.str[STRING_PROXYUSERNAME] ?
+    data->set.str[STRING_PROXYUSERNAME] : "";
+  const char *proxypasswd = data->set.str[STRING_PROXYPASSWORD] ?
+    data->set.str[STRING_PROXYPASSWORD] : "";
   CURLcode result = CURLE_OK;
 
   if(proxyuser)