diff --git a/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.cpp b/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.cpp
index debb8db..ca8ab60 100644
--- a/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.cpp
+++ b/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.cpp
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ std::optional<PluginMetaInformation> PluginMetaInformationFactory::loadPlugin(st
 
     uint32_t sec_num = reader.sections.size();
 
+    bool hasMetaSection = false;
     for (uint32_t i = 0; i < sec_num; ++i) {
         ELFIO::section *psec = reader.sections[i];
 
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ std::optional<PluginMetaInformation> PluginMetaInformationFactory::loadPlugin(st
 
         // Get meta information and check WUPS version:
         if (psec->get_name() == ".wups.meta") {
+            hasMetaSection          = true;
             const void *sectionData = psec->get_data();
             uint32_t sectionSize    = psec->get_size();
 
@@ -118,6 +120,11 @@ std::optional<PluginMetaInformation> PluginMetaInformationFactory::loadPlugin(st
             }
         }
     }
+    if (!hasMetaSection) {
+        DEBUG_FUNCTION_LINE_ERR("File has no \".wups.meta\" section");
+        error = PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_NO_PLUGIN;
+        return {};
+    }
 
     pluginInfo.setSize(pluginSize);
 
diff --git a/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.h b/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.h
index 6020f86..aa518e9 100644
--- a/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.h
+++ b/source/plugin/PluginMetaInformationFactory.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 enum PluginParseErrors {
     PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_NONE,
     PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_UNKNOWN,
+    PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_NO_PLUGIN,
     PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_VERSION,
     PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_BUFFER_EMPTY,
     PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_ELFIO_PARSE_FAILED,
diff --git a/source/utils/exports.cpp b/source/utils/exports.cpp
index 1f95ce6..e0eafb3 100644
--- a/source/utils/exports.cpp
+++ b/source/utils/exports.cpp
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ extern "C" PluginBackendApiErrorType WUPSGetPluginMetaInformationEx(WUPSBackendG
             case PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_BUFFER_EMPTY:
             case PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_ELFIO_PARSE_FAILED:
             case PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_IO_ERROR:
+            case PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_NO_PLUGIN:
                 *errOut = PLUGIN_BACKEND_PLUGIN_PARSE_ERROR_UNKNOWN;
                 break;
         }