diff --git a/src/node_metadata.cc b/src/node_metadata.cc
index 819f41e2ab4384..5ff67eb3bd0d73 100644
--- a/src/node_metadata.cc
+++ b/src/node_metadata.cc
@@ -52,14 +52,19 @@ Metadata metadata;
 
 #if HAVE_OPENSSL
 static constexpr size_t search(const char* s, char c, size_t n = 0) {
-  return *s == c ? n : search(s + 1, c, n + 1);
+    return *s == '\0' ? n : (*s == c ? n : search(s + 1, c, n + 1));
 }
 
 static inline std::string GetOpenSSLVersion() {
   // sample openssl version string format
   // for reference: "OpenSSL 1.1.0i 14 Aug 2018"
   const char* version = OpenSSL_version(OPENSSL_VERSION);
-  const size_t start = search(version, ' ') + 1;
+  const size_t first_space = search(version, ' ');
+  if (version[first_space] == '\0') {
+    return std::string("0.0.0");
+  }
+
+  const size_t start = first_space + 1;
   const size_t len = search(&version[start], ' ');
   return std::string(version, start, len);
 }