diff --git a/src/common/xml.c b/src/common/xml.c
index 7833bee5..ccadd44c 100644
--- a/src/common/xml.c
+++ b/src/common/xml.c
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#include <assert.h>
 #include <glib.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <strings.h>
@@ -10,10 +11,6 @@
 static xmlNode*
 create_attribute_tree(const xmlAttr *attr)
 {
-	if (!strchr((char *)attr->name, '.')) {
-		return NULL;
-	}
-
 	gchar **parts = g_strsplit((char *)attr->name, ".", -1);
 	int length = g_strv_length(parts);
 	xmlNode *root_node = NULL;
@@ -35,6 +32,12 @@ create_attribute_tree(const xmlAttr *attr)
 		parent_node = current_node;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Note: empty attributes or attributes with only dots are forbidden
+	 * and root_node becomes never NULL here.
+	 */
+	assert(root_node);
+
 	xmlChar *content = xmlNodeGetContent(attr->children);
 	xmlNodeSetContent(current_node, content);
 	xmlFree(content);
diff --git a/t/xml.c b/t/xml.c
index bb8f8a6d..003632a6 100644
--- a/t/xml.c
+++ b/t/xml.c
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ struct test_case {
 			"</position>"
 		"</action>"
 	"</keybind>"
+}, {
+	"<AAA aaa='111' bbb='222'/>",
+
+	"<AAA>"
+		"<aaa>111</aaa>"
+		"<bbb>222</bbb>"
+	"</AAA>"
 }, {
 	"<AAA aaa.bbb.ccc='111' ddd.ccc='222' eee.bbb.ccc='333'/>",
 
@@ -50,10 +57,11 @@ struct test_case {
 }, {
 	"<AAA aaa.bbb='111' bbb='222' ccc.bbb='333'/>",
 
-	"<AAA bbb=\"222\">"
-		"<bbb><aaa>111</aaa></bbb>"
-		"<bbb><ccc>333</ccc></bbb>"
-	"</AAA>",
+	"<AAA><bbb>"
+		"<aaa>111</aaa>"
+		"222"
+		"<ccc>333</ccc>"
+	"</bbb></AAA>",
 }, {
 	"<AAA>"
 		"<BBB aaa.bbb='111'/>"