diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index b0da44c..13266c4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ Known issues:
 
 ## not yet released
 
+- [joyent/node-triton#193] Fix possible CLI crash with `triton ssh ...` if the
+  instance's image doesn't have any tags.
+
 ## 5.2.0
 
 - [joyent/node-triton#197] Create triton image export command
diff --git a/lib/do_instance/do_ssh.js b/lib/do_instance/do_ssh.js
index 8b45571..3b9467b 100644
--- a/lib/do_instance/do_ssh.js
+++ b/lib/do_instance/do_ssh.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  */
 
 /*
- * Copyright 2016 Joyent, Inc.
+ * Copyright 2017 Joyent, Inc.
  *
  * `triton instance ssh ...`
  */
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ function do_ssh(subcmd, opts, args, callback) {
                  * This is a convention as seen on Joyent's
                  * "ubuntu-certified" KVM images.
                  */
-                if (image.tags.default_user) {
+                if (image.tags && image.tags.default_user) {
                     user = image.tags.default_user;
                 } else {
                     user = 'root';