diff --git a/qemu/qapi/qmp-input-visitor.c b/qemu/qapi/qmp-input-visitor.c
index c102d0eb..9fa222c4 100644
--- a/qemu/qapi/qmp-input-visitor.c
+++ b/qemu/qapi/qmp-input-visitor.c
@@ -345,7 +345,13 @@ static void qmp_input_type_any(Visitor *v, const char *name, QObject **obj,
 
 static void qmp_input_type_null(Visitor *v, const char *name, Error **errp)
 {
-    abort();
+    QmpInputVisitor *qiv = to_qiv(v);
+    QObject *qobj = qmp_input_get_object(qiv, name, true);
+
+    if (qobject_type(qobj) != QTYPE_QNULL) {
+        error_setg(errp, QERR_INVALID_PARAMETER_TYPE, name ? name : "null",
+                   "null");
+    }
 }
 
 static void qmp_input_optional(Visitor *v, const char *name, bool *present)
diff --git a/qemu/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c b/qemu/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c
index d37662cf..93438085 100644
--- a/qemu/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c
+++ b/qemu/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c
@@ -199,7 +199,8 @@ static void qmp_output_type_any(Visitor *v, const char *name, QObject **obj,
 
 static void qmp_output_type_null(Visitor *v, const char *name, Error **errp)
 {
-    abort();
+    QmpOutputVisitor *qov = to_qov(v);
+    qmp_output_add_obj(qov, name, qnull());
 }
 
 /* Finish building, and return the root object. Will not be NULL. */