diff --git a/libavcodec/bfi.c b/libavcodec/bfi.c
index 9cfcd14aa3..924d7f8353 100644
--- a/libavcodec/bfi.c
+++ b/libavcodec/bfi.c
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ static av_cold int bfi_decode_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
     BFIContext *bfi = avctx->priv_data;
     avctx->pix_fmt  = AV_PIX_FMT_PAL8;
     bfi->dst        = av_mallocz(avctx->width * avctx->height);
+    if (!bfi->dst)
+        return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
     return 0;
 }