diff --git a/fastrpc/hexagonrpcd/listener.c b/fastrpc/hexagonrpcd/listener.c
index d746146..bcdc857 100644
--- a/fastrpc/hexagonrpcd/listener.c
+++ b/fastrpc/hexagonrpcd/listener.c
@@ -73,6 +73,14 @@ static struct fastrpc_io_buffer *allocate_outbufs(const struct fastrpc_function_
 	off_t off;
 	uint32_t *sizes;
 
+	/*
+	 * POSIX allows malloc to return a non-NULL pointer to a zero-size area
+	 * in memory. Since the code below assumes non-zero size if the pointer
+	 * is non-NULL, exit early if we do not need to allocate anything.
+	 */
+	if (out_count == 0)
+		return NULL;
+
 	out_count = def->out_bufs + (def->out_nums && 1);
 	out = malloc(sizeof(struct fastrpc_io_buffer) * out_count);
 	if (out == NULL)