diff --git a/lib/mpi/mpicoder.c b/lib/mpi/mpicoder.c
index fe84bb9..716802b 100644
--- a/lib/mpi/mpicoder.c
+++ b/lib/mpi/mpicoder.c
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@
 	if (!n)
 		n++;		/* avoid zero length allocation */
 	p = buffer = kmalloc(n, GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!p)
+		return NULL;
 
 	for (i = a->nlimbs - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
 		alimb = a->d[i];