diff --git a/src/node_errors.cc b/src/node_errors.cc
index 603c9e415c3..baf08b30458 100644
--- a/src/node_errors.cc
+++ b/src/node_errors.cc
@@ -180,7 +180,8 @@ void PrintException(Isolate* isolate,
                     Local<Value> err,
                     Local<Message> message) {
   node::Utf8Value reason(isolate,
-                         err->ToDetailString(context).ToLocalChecked());
+                         err->ToDetailString(context)
+                             .FromMaybe(Local<String>()));
   bool added_exception_line = false;
   std::string source =
       GetErrorSource(isolate, context, message, &added_exception_line);
diff --git a/src/node_util.cc b/src/node_util.cc
index 9e506f0e657..ab54c84379d 100644
--- a/src/node_util.cc
+++ b/src/node_util.cc
@@ -125,8 +125,10 @@ static void PreviewEntries(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
 
 // Side effect-free stringification that will never throw exceptions.
 static void SafeToString(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
-  auto context = args.GetIsolate()->GetCurrentContext();
-  args.GetReturnValue().Set(args[0]->ToDetailString(context).ToLocalChecked());
+  Local<Context> context = args.GetIsolate()->GetCurrentContext();
+  Local<String> detail_string;
+  if (args[0]->ToDetailString(context).ToLocal(&detail_string))
+    args.GetReturnValue().Set(detail_string);
 }
 
 inline Local<Private> IndexToPrivateSymbol(Environment* env, uint32_t index) {