diff --git a/plugins/image-source/image-source.c b/plugins/image-source/image-source.c
index f8729663a..b962fa8a0 100644
--- a/plugins/image-source/image-source.c
+++ b/plugins/image-source/image-source.c
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ struct image_source {
 static time_t get_modified_timestamp(const char *filename)
 {
 	struct stat stats;
-	stat(filename, &stats);
+	if (stat(filename, &stats) != 0)
+		return -1;
 	return stats.st_mtime;
 }
 
diff --git a/plugins/text-freetype2/text-functionality.c b/plugins/text-freetype2/text-functionality.c
index 066675b7d..684a2a573 100644
--- a/plugins/text-freetype2/text-functionality.c
+++ b/plugins/text-freetype2/text-functionality.c
@@ -322,7 +322,8 @@ time_t get_modified_timestamp(char *filename)
 
 	// stat is apparently terrifying and horrible, but we only call it once
 	// every second at most.
-	stat(filename, &stats);
+	if (stat(filename, &stats) != 0)
+		return -1;
 
 	return stats.st_mtime;
 }