diff --git a/src/xml.c b/src/xml.c
index d59b01f57..cdd9bca00 100644
--- a/src/xml.c
+++ b/src/xml.c
@@ -1253,7 +1253,7 @@ lyxml_parse_mem(struct ly_ctx *ctx, const char *data, int options)
 
 repeat:
     /* process document */
-    while (1) {
+    while (c) {
         if (!*c) {
             /* eof */
             return first;
@@ -1290,6 +1290,10 @@ lyxml_parse_mem(struct ly_ctx *ctx, const char *data, int options)
         }
     }
 
+    if (!c) {
+        goto error;
+    }
+
     root = lyxml_parse_elem(ctx, c, &len, NULL, options);
     if (!root) {
         goto error;