diff --git a/shlr/sdb/src/query.c b/shlr/sdb/src/query.c
index e89464307a..1ffe813c30 100644
--- a/shlr/sdb/src/query.c
+++ b/shlr/sdb/src/query.c
@@ -81,10 +81,11 @@ typedef struct {
 
 static int foreach_list_cb(void *user, const char *k, const char *v) {
 	ForeachListUser *rlu = user;
-	char *line, *root = rlu->root;
+	char *line, *root;
 	int rlen, klen, vlen;
 	ut8 *v2 = NULL;
 	if (!rlu) return 0;
+	root = rlu->root;
 	klen = strlen (k);
 	if (rlu->encode) {
 		v2 = sdb_decode (v, NULL);
diff --git a/shlr/sdb/src/util.c b/shlr/sdb/src/util.c
index ab74cd220c..f4f70b2759 100644
--- a/shlr/sdb/src/util.c
+++ b/shlr/sdb/src/util.c
@@ -220,9 +220,8 @@ SDB_API const char *sdb_type(const char *k) {
 SDB_API int sdb_isjson (const char *k) {
 	int level = 0;
 	int quotes = 0;
-	if (*k!='{' && *k != '[')
+	if (!k || (*k!='{' && *k != '['))
 		return 0;
-	if (k)
 	for (; *k; k++) {
 		if (quotes) {
 			if (*k == '"')
@@ -231,8 +230,7 @@ SDB_API int sdb_isjson (const char *k) {
 		}
 		switch (*k) {
 		case '"':
-			if (quotes) quotes = 0;
-			else quotes = 1;
+			quotes = 1;
 			break;
 		case '[':
 		case '{':