diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/fix-opennebula_vm_without_nic.yml b/changelogs/fragments/fix-opennebula_vm_without_nic.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c498035fbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/fix-opennebula_vm_without_nic.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - opennebula inventory plugin - fix crash when retrieving VM without NIC (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/12361).
diff --git a/plugins/inventory/opennebula.py b/plugins/inventory/opennebula.py
index 2421d55dbc..4b06c57d56 100644
--- a/plugins/inventory/opennebula.py
+++ b/plugins/inventory/opennebula.py
@@ -133,6 +133,9 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable):
     def _get_vm_ipv4(self, vm):
         nic = vm.TEMPLATE.get("NIC")
 
+        if not nic:
+            return False
+
         if isinstance(nic, dict):
             nic = [nic]
 
@@ -145,6 +148,9 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable):
     def _get_vm_ipv6(self, vm):
         nic = vm.TEMPLATE.get("NIC")
 
+        if not nic:
+            return False
+
         if isinstance(nic, dict):
             nic = [nic]