diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py
index 987a6161..9bb6d5b4 100644
--- a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ def _parse_addresses(self, item, link_name):
                 gateway=gateway)
             routes.append(route)
 
-        nameservers = item.get("nameservers")
+        nameservers = item.get("nameservers", {})
         nameserver_addresses = nameservers.get("addresses", []) \
             if nameservers else []
         searches = nameservers.get("search", [])