diff --git a/libavcodec/fitsdec.c b/libavcodec/fitsdec.c
index 67a8bd71f4..4f452422ef 100644
--- a/libavcodec/fitsdec.c
+++ b/libavcodec/fitsdec.c
@@ -168,6 +168,14 @@ static int fits_read_header(AVCodecContext *avctx, const uint8_t **ptr, FITSHead
         header->data_min = (header->data_min - header->bzero) / header->bscale;
         header->data_max = (header->data_max - header->bzero) / header->bscale;
     }
+    if (!header->rgb && header->data_min >= header->data_max) {
+        if (header->data_min > header->data_max) {
+            av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "data min/max (%g %g) is invalid\n", header->data_min, header->data_max);
+            return AVERROR_INVALIDDATA;
+        }
+        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_WARNING, "data min/max indicates a blank image\n");
+        header->data_max ++;
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }