diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 68506671f..a1448ff5b 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ Bugfixes:
   str_split_quoted() should return a real return code, so spawn_child can
   report the failure properly.
 
+* When systemctl --host is used, underlying ssh connection can remain open.
+  bus_close does not kill children?
+
 External:
 * Fedora: add an rpmlint check that verifies that all unit files in the RPM are listed in %systemd_post macros.
 
diff --git a/src/systemctl/systemctl.c b/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
index 161f76f23..c25417a36 100644
--- a/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
+++ b/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
@@ -4544,6 +4544,11 @@ static int cat(sd_bus *bus, char **args) {
         assert(bus);
         assert(args);
 
+        if (arg_host) {
+                log_error("Option --host cannot be used with 'cat'");
+                return -EINVAL;
+        }
+
         r = expand_names(bus, args + 1, NULL, &names);
         if (r < 0)
                 log_error("Failed to expand names: %s", strerror(-r));