diff --git a/libavformat/au.c b/libavformat/au.c
index ff9176a1f1..f92863e400 100644
--- a/libavformat/au.c
+++ b/libavformat/au.c
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ static int au_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
     int bps, ba = 0;
     enum AVCodecID codec;
     AVStream *st;
+    int ret;
 
     tag = avio_rl32(pb);
     if (tag != MKTAG('.', 's', 'n', 'd'))
@@ -163,7 +164,9 @@ static int au_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
 
     if (size > 24) {
         /* parse annotation field to get metadata */
-        au_read_annotation(s, size - 24);
+        ret = au_read_annotation(s, size - 24);
+        if (ret < 0)
+            return ret;
     }
 
     codec = ff_codec_get_id(codec_au_tags, id);