diff --git a/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Table.pm b/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Table.pm
index 1095bd05b..9989b5d49 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Table.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Table.pm
@@ -1478,7 +1478,6 @@ sub getAttribs
     my @exeargs;
     foreach (keys %keypairs)
     {
-
         if ($keypairs{$_})
         {
             $statement .= "\"".$_ . "\" = ? and ";
@@ -1493,7 +1492,7 @@ sub getAttribs
         }
         else
         {
-            $statement .= "$_ is NULL and ";
+            $statement .= "\"$_\" is NULL and ";
         }
     }
     $statement .= "(\"disable\" is NULL or \"disable\" in ('0','no','NO','No','nO'))";
diff --git a/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm b/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm
index 168447d6c..8ec739967 100644
--- a/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm
@@ -153,6 +153,10 @@ sub gettab
     foreach (@keypairs)
     {
         (my $key, my $value) = split /=/, $_;
+        unless (defined $key) {
+            gettab_usage(1);
+            return;
+        }
         $keyhash{$key} = $value;
     }
 
@@ -164,6 +168,15 @@ sub gettab
         $tabhash{$table}->{$column} = 1;
     }
 
+    #Sanity check the key against all tables in question
+    foreach my $tabn (keys %tabhash) {
+        foreach my $kcheck (keys %keyhash) {
+            unless (grep /^$kcheck$/, @{$xCAT::Schema::tabspec{$tabn}->{cols}}) {
+                $callback->({error => ["Unkown key $kcheck to $tabn"],errorcode=>[1]});
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+    }
     # Get the requested columns from each table
     foreach my $tabn (keys %tabhash)
     {