diff --git a/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite b/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite
index b41faedaf..b30e081df 100755
--- a/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite
+++ b/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite
@@ -755,7 +755,8 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
 	    usage 1
 	fi
 
-	[ -z "$vlsm" ] && exit 2
+	valid_address $address || fatal_error "Invalid IP address: $address"
+	if [ -z "$vlsm" ] && exit 2
 	[ "x$address" = "x$vlsm" ] && usage 2
 	[ $vlsm -gt 32 ] && echo "Invalid VLSM: /$vlsm" >&2 && exit 2
 
@@ -771,6 +772,10 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
 	[ -n "$debugging" ] && set -x
 	case $2 in
 	    *.*.*.*-*.*.*.*)
+		for address in ${2%-*} ${2#*-}; do
+		    valid_address $address || fatal_error "Invalid IP address: $address"
+		done
+
 		ip_range $2
 		;;
 	    *)
@@ -782,6 +787,7 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
 	[ -n "$debugging" ] && set -x
 	case $2 in
 	    *.*.*.*)
+		valid_address $2 || fatal_error "Invalid IP address: $2"
 		echo "   $(decodeaddr $2)"
 		;;
 	    *)