diff --git a/src/cairo-xlib-private.h b/src/cairo-xlib-private.h
index 71dccc3a7..8e338aea6 100644
--- a/src/cairo-xlib-private.h
+++ b/src/cairo-xlib-private.h
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ typedef struct _cairo_xlib_surface cairo_xlib_surface_t;
 #define RAMP_SIZE 16
 /* maximum number of cached GC's */
 #define GC_CACHE_SIZE 4
+/* maximum width/height of an X11 drawable */
+#define XLIB_COORD_MAX 32767
 
 struct _cairo_xlib_display {
     cairo_device_t base;
diff --git a/src/cairo-xlib-surface-shm.c b/src/cairo-xlib-surface-shm.c
index 1ee1e3d70..ccdaf4cbc 100644
--- a/src/cairo-xlib-surface-shm.c
+++ b/src/cairo-xlib-surface-shm.c
@@ -809,6 +809,9 @@ _cairo_xlib_shm_surface_create (cairo_xlib_surface_t *other,
     pixman_image_t *image;
     int stride, size;
 
+    if (width > XLIB_COORD_MAX || height > XLIB_COORD_MAX)
+	return NULL;
+
     stride = CAIRO_STRIDE_FOR_WIDTH_BPP (width, PIXMAN_FORMAT_BPP(format));
     size = stride * height;
     if (size < MIN_SIZE)
diff --git a/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c b/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c
index 2a6d896d3..7d368a8ba 100644
--- a/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c
+++ b/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c
@@ -72,8 +72,6 @@
 #include <sys/ipc.h>
 #include <sys/shm.h>
 
-#define XLIB_COORD_MAX 32767
-
 #define DEBUG 0
 
 #if DEBUG