diff --git a/src/unix/linux-core.c b/src/unix/linux-core.c
index 333dbe80..2d712483 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux-core.c
+++ b/src/unix/linux-core.c
@@ -562,7 +562,7 @@ static int uv__cpu_num(FILE* statfile_fp, unsigned int* numcpus) {
   char buf[1024];
 
   if (!fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), statfile_fp))
-    abort();
+    return -EIO;
 
   num = 0;
   while (fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), statfile_fp)) {
@@ -571,6 +571,9 @@ static int uv__cpu_num(FILE* statfile_fp, unsigned int* numcpus) {
     num++;
   }
 
+  if (num == 0)
+    return -EIO;
+
   *numcpus = num;
   return 0;
 }
@@ -593,9 +596,6 @@ int uv_cpu_info(uv_cpu_info_t** cpu_infos, int* count) {
   if (err < 0)
     goto out;
 
-  assert(numcpus != (unsigned int) -1);
-  assert(numcpus != 0);
-
   err = -ENOMEM;
   ci = uv__calloc(numcpus, sizeof(*ci));
   if (ci == NULL)