diff --git a/libs/riutil/multistringbuffer.h b/libs/riutil/multistringbuffer.h
index b45e492..5d4143b 100644
--- a/libs/riutil/multistringbuffer.h
+++ b/libs/riutil/multistringbuffer.h
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ class MultiStringBuffer
         /// Convert to an vector of C-strings
         const std::vector<const char*>& toCstringVec() const
         {
+            if(m_offsets.empty())
+                return m_cStrings;
             // iterate through offsets, getting a pointer for each
             // contained string.  We MUST build this once we know
             // we're done with adding things to m_storage, or the