diff --git a/modules/demux/real.c b/modules/demux/real.c
index b4bf48a84628629c5631b6b566b8bb8e62382980..81f256874b55e226a22f1d2744c782a3f0adf917 100644
--- a/modules/demux/real.c
+++ b/modules/demux/real.c
@@ -964,7 +964,7 @@ static int ControlSeekByte( demux_t *p_demux, int64_t i_bytes )
  *****************************************************************************/
 
 /**
- * This function will read a pascal string with size stored in 2 bytes from
+ * This function will read a Pascal string with size stored in 2 bytes from
  * a stream_t.
  *
  * FIXME what is the right charset ?
@@ -980,12 +980,18 @@ static char *StreamReadString2( stream_t *s )
     if( i_length <= 0 )
         return NULL;
 
-    char *psz_string = xcalloc( 1, i_length + 1 );
+    char *psz_string = malloc( i_length + 1 );
+    if( unlikely(psz_string == NULL) )
+        return NULL;
 
-    vlc_stream_Read( s, psz_string, i_length ); /* Valid even if !psz_string */
+    if( vlc_stream_Read( s, psz_string, i_length ) < i_length )
+    {
+        free( psz_string );
+        return NULL;
+    }
 
-    if( psz_string )
-        EnsureUTF8( psz_string );
+    psz_string[i_length] = '\0';
+    EnsureUTF8( psz_string );
     return psz_string;
 }
 
@@ -1199,9 +1205,8 @@ static void HeaderINDX( demux_t *p_demux )
     if( p_sys->i_index_offset == 0 )
         return;
 
-    vlc_stream_Seek( p_demux->s, p_sys->i_index_offset );
-
-    if( vlc_stream_Read( p_demux->s, buffer, 20 ) < 20 )
+    if( vlc_stream_Seek( p_demux->s, p_sys->i_index_offset )
+     || vlc_stream_Read( p_demux->s, buffer, 20 ) < 20 )
         return ;
 
     const uint32_t i_id = VLC_FOURCC( buffer[0], buffer[1], buffer[2], buffer[3] );