diff --git a/libavcodec/mpc7.c b/libavcodec/mpc7.c
index 02c83fcdc8..6f79c7b51e 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpc7.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mpc7.c
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ static int mpc7_decode_frame(AVCodecContext * avctx,
     memset(bands, 0, sizeof(bands));
     if(buf_size <= 4){
         av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Too small buffer passed (%i bytes)\n", buf_size);
+        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
     }
 
     out_size = (buf[1] ? c->lastframelen : MPC_FRAME_SIZE) * 4;