diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/openvswitch/openvswitch.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/openvswitch/openvswitch.sh
index a415e9dec8cd..82f066a0ceed 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/openvswitch/openvswitch.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/openvswitch/openvswitch.sh
@@ -360,6 +360,8 @@ test_psample() {
 	# sFlow / IPFIX.
 	nlpid=$(grep -E "listening on upcall packet handler" \
             $ovs_dir/s0.out | cut -d ":" -f 2 | tr -d ' ')
+	[ -z "$nlpid" ] && \
+		{ info "failed to get upcall PID"; return 1; }
 
 	ovs_add_flow "test_psample" psample \
             "in_port(2),eth(),eth_type(0x0800),ipv4()" \
@@ -393,6 +395,10 @@ test_drop_reason() {
 	ovs_drop_subsys=$(pahole -C skb_drop_reason_subsys |
 			      awk '/OPENVSWITCH/ { print $3; }' |
 			      tr -d ,)
+	if [ -z "$ovs_drop_subsys" ]; then
+		info "failed to get OVS drop subsys ID"
+		return $ksft_skip
+	fi
 
 	sbx_add "test_drop_reason" || return $?
 
@@ -491,13 +497,19 @@ test_arp_ping () {
 	# Setup client namespace
 	ip netns exec client ip addr add 172.31.110.10/24 dev c1
 	ip netns exec client ip link set c1 up
-	HW_CLIENT=`ip netns exec client ip link show dev c1 | grep -E 'link/ether [0-9a-f:]+' | awk '{print $2;}'`
+	HW_CLIENT=$(ip netns exec client ip link show dev c1 \
+		| awk '/link\/ether/ {print $2}')
+	[ -z "$HW_CLIENT" ] && \
+		{ info "failed to get client hwaddr"; return 1; }
 	info "Client hwaddr: $HW_CLIENT"
 
 	# Setup server namespace
 	ip netns exec server ip addr add 172.31.110.20/24 dev s1
 	ip netns exec server ip link set s1 up
-	HW_SERVER=`ip netns exec server ip link show dev s1 | grep -E 'link/ether [0-9a-f:]+' | awk '{print $2;}'`
+	HW_SERVER=$(ip netns exec server ip link show dev s1 \
+		| awk '/link\/ether/ {print $2}')
+	[ -z "$HW_SERVER" ] && \
+		{ info "failed to get server hwaddr"; return 1; }
 	info "Server hwaddr: $HW_SERVER"
 
 	ovs_add_flow "test_arp_ping" arpping \