diff --git a/maxutils/maxbase/include/maxbase/assert.h b/maxutils/maxbase/include/maxbase/assert.h
index 9f1a70ed7..53240398a 100644
--- a/maxutils/maxbase/include/maxbase/assert.h
+++ b/maxutils/maxbase/include/maxbase/assert.h
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ MXB_BEGIN_DECLS
 #else /* SS_DEBUG */
 
 #define mxb_assert(exp)
-#define mxb_assert_message(exp, message)
+#define mxb_assert_message(exp, fmt, ...)
 
 #define MXB_AT_DEBUG(exp)
 
diff --git a/server/core/dcb.cc b/server/core/dcb.cc
index 6d920c1e1..19c7461fc 100644
--- a/server/core/dcb.cc
+++ b/server/core/dcb.cc
@@ -1598,7 +1598,7 @@ void dprintDCB(DCB* pdcb, DCB* dcb)
     if (dcb->server)
     {
         string statusname = dcb->server->status_string();
-        if (!statusname.c_str())
+        if (!statusname.empty())
         {
             dcb_printf(pdcb, "\tServer status:            %s\n", statusname.c_str());
         }
diff --git a/server/core/mainworker.cc b/server/core/mainworker.cc
index c7ad86bae..c75c957b5 100644
--- a/server/core/mainworker.cc
+++ b/server/core/mainworker.cc
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ MainWorker& MainWorker::get()
 void MainWorker::add_task(const std::string& name, TASKFN func, void* pData, int frequency)
 {
     execute([=]() {
-                mxb_assert_message(m_tasks_by_name.find(name) == m_tasks_by_name.end(), name.c_str());
+                mxb_assert_message(m_tasks_by_name.find(name) == m_tasks_by_name.end(), "%s", name.c_str());
 
                 Task task(name.c_str(), func, pData, frequency);