diff --git a/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c b/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c
index 32f863660..6db57b144 100644
--- a/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c
+++ b/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ size_t ZDICT_getDictHeaderSize(const void* dictBuffer, size_t dictSize)
 
     {   size_t headerSize;
         ZSTD_entropyDTables_t* dummyEntropyTables = (ZSTD_entropyDTables_t*)malloc(sizeof(ZSTD_entropyDTables_t));
+        if (!dummyEntropyTables) {
+            return 0;
+        }
         dummyEntropyTables->hufTable[0] = (HUF_DTable)((HufLog)*0x1000001);
         headerSize = ZSTD_loadDEntropy(dummyEntropyTables, dictBuffer, dictSize);
         free(dummyEntropyTables);
diff --git a/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.h b/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.h
index f16d573a9..bb89f1f9f 100644
--- a/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.h
+++ b/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.h
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ ZDICTLIB_API size_t ZDICT_trainFromBuffer(void* dictBuffer, size_t dictBufferCap
 
 /*======   Helper functions   ======*/
 ZDICTLIB_API unsigned ZDICT_getDictID(const void* dictBuffer, size_t dictSize);  /**< extracts dictID; @return zero if error (not a valid dictionary) */
-ZDICTLIB_API size_t ZDICT_getDictHeaderSize(const void* dictBuffer, size_t dictSize);  /* returns dict header size; returns zero if error (not a valid dictionary) */
+ZDICTLIB_API size_t ZDICT_getDictHeaderSize(const void* dictBuffer, size_t dictSize);  /* returns dict header size; returns zero if error (not a valid dictionary or mem alloc failure) */
 ZDICTLIB_API unsigned ZDICT_isError(size_t errorCode);
 ZDICTLIB_API const char* ZDICT_getErrorName(size_t errorCode);