diff --git a/mysql-test/r/federated.result b/mysql-test/r/federated.result
index 98e6569fa36..65fafcb2166 100644
--- a/mysql-test/r/federated.result
+++ b/mysql-test/r/federated.result
@@ -2090,6 +2090,8 @@ a	b
 1	1
 DROP TABLE t1;
 DROP TABLE t1;
+CREATE TABLE t1 (a INT) ENGINE=federated CONNECTION='mysql://@:://';
+DROP TABLE t1;
 End of 5.1 tests
 DROP TABLE IF EXISTS federated.t1;
 DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS federated;
diff --git a/mysql-test/t/federated.test b/mysql-test/t/federated.test
index 79a706fdfa2..0fd2290d619 100644
--- a/mysql-test/t/federated.test
+++ b/mysql-test/t/federated.test
@@ -1816,5 +1816,12 @@ DROP TABLE t1;
 connection slave;
 DROP TABLE t1;
 
+#
+# BUG#34788 - malformed federated connection url is not handled correctly -
+#             crashes server !
+#
+CREATE TABLE t1 (a INT) ENGINE=federated CONNECTION='mysql://@:://';
+DROP TABLE t1;
+
 --echo End of 5.1 tests
 source include/federated_cleanup.inc;
diff --git a/storage/federated/ha_federated.cc b/storage/federated/ha_federated.cc
index d7040c44fe8..30702ac4344 100644
--- a/storage/federated/ha_federated.cc
+++ b/storage/federated/ha_federated.cc
@@ -833,13 +833,20 @@ Then password is a null string, so set to NULL
     if ((strchr(share->table_name, '/')))
       goto error;
 
+    /*
+      If hostname is omitted, we set it to NULL. According to
+      mysql_real_connect() manual:
+      The value of host may be either a hostname or an IP address.
+      If host is NULL or the string "localhost", a connection to the
+      local host is assumed.
+    */
     if (share->hostname[0] == '\0')
       share->hostname= NULL;
 
   }
   if (!share->port)
   {
-    if (strcmp(share->hostname, my_localhost) == 0)
+    if (!share->hostname || strcmp(share->hostname, my_localhost) == 0)
       share->socket= (char *) MYSQL_UNIX_ADDR;
     else
       share->port= MYSQL_PORT;