diff --git a/libavcodec/xl.c b/libavcodec/xl.c
index 6cdb91b4c7..c8b0e06a41 100644
--- a/libavcodec/xl.c
+++ b/libavcodec/xl.c
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ static int decode_frame(AVCodecContext *avctx,
     uint32_t val;
     int y0, y1, y2, y3 = 0, c0 = 0, c1 = 0;
 
+    if (avctx->width & 3) {
+        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "width is not a multiple of 4\n");
+        return AVERROR_INVALIDDATA;
+    }
+
     if(p->data[0])
         avctx->release_buffer(avctx, p);