diff --git a/apps/restconf/restconf_methods.c b/apps/restconf/restconf_methods.c
index 8c1a9073..4fd549dc 100644
--- a/apps/restconf/restconf_methods.c
+++ b/apps/restconf/restconf_methods.c
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ api_data_put(clicon_handle h,
     cbuf      *cbx = NULL;
     cxobj     *x;
     cxobj     *xbot = NULL;
-    cxobj     *xtop;
+    cxobj     *xtop = NULL;
     cxobj     *xp;
     yang_node *y = NULL;
     yang_spec *yspec;
diff --git a/datastore/text/clixon_xmldb_text.c b/datastore/text/clixon_xmldb_text.c
index e96d7067..0013948f 100644
--- a/datastore/text/clixon_xmldb_text.c
+++ b/datastore/text/clixon_xmldb_text.c
@@ -773,6 +773,11 @@ text_put(xmldb_handle        xh,
 	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "dbfile NULL");
 	goto done;
     }
+    if (x1 && strcmp(xml_name(x1),"config")!=0){
+	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "Top-level symbol of modification tree is %s, expected \"config\"",
+		   xml_name(x1));
+	goto done;
+    }
     if ((yspec =  th->th_yangspec) == NULL){
 	clicon_err(OE_YANG, ENOENT, "No yang spec");
 	goto done;
@@ -797,8 +802,13 @@ text_put(xmldb_handle        xh,
 	if (singleconfigroot(x0, &x0) < 0)
 	    goto done;
     }
-    assert(strcmp(xml_name(x0),"config")==0);
     /* Here x0 looks like: <config>...</config> */
+    if (strcmp(xml_name(x0),"config")!=0){
+	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "Top-level symbol is %s, expected \"config\"",
+		   xml_name(x0));
+	goto done;
+    }
+
     /* Validate existing config tree */
     if (xml_apply(x0, CX_ELMNT, xml_spec_populate, yspec) < 0)
        goto done;
diff --git a/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c b/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c
index 1bd2409d..a8394fd6 100644
--- a/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c
+++ b/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c
@@ -1473,8 +1473,10 @@ api_path2xml_vec(char              **vec,
     yang_stmt *y = NULL;
 
     if ((name = vec[0]) == NULL){
-	*xpathp = x0;
-	*ypathp = y0;
+	if (xpathp)
+	    *xpathp = x0;
+	if (ypathp)
+	    *ypathp = y0;
 	return 0;
     } /* E.g "x=1,2" -> name:x restval=1,2 */
     /* restval is RFC 3896 encoded */
diff --git a/lib/src/clixon_xml_parse.y b/lib/src/clixon_xml_parse.y
index 1ba389a1..a1051e8d 100644
--- a/lib/src/clixon_xml_parse.y
+++ b/lib/src/clixon_xml_parse.y
@@ -168,12 +168,12 @@ xml_parse_bslash1(struct xml_parse_yacc_arg *ya,
     cxobj *xc;
 
     if (strcmp(xml_name(x), name)){
-	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "Sanity check failed: %s vs %s", 
+	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "XML parse sanity check failed: %s vs %s", 
 		xml_name(x), name);
 	goto done;
     }
     if (xml_namespace(x)!=NULL){
-	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "Sanity check failed: %s:%s vs %s\n", 
+	clicon_err(OE_XML, 0, "XML parse sanity check failed: %s:%s vs %s\n", 
 		xml_namespace(x), xml_name(x), name);
 	goto done;
     }