diff --git a/src/ejabberd_xmlrpc.erl b/src/ejabberd_xmlrpc.erl
index 2c299d7f1..3552e766f 100644
--- a/src/ejabberd_xmlrpc.erl
+++ b/src/ejabberd_xmlrpc.erl
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ accept(Pid) ->
 %% HTTP interface
 %% -----------------------------
 process(_, #request{method = 'POST', data = Data, opts = Opts, ip = {IP, _}}) ->
-    AccessCommands = proplists:get_value(access_commands, Opts),
+    AccessCommands = proplists:get_value(access_commands, Opts, []),
     GetAuth = true,
     State = #state{access_commands = AccessCommands, get_auth = GetAuth, ip = IP},
     case fxml_stream:parse_element(Data) of