diff --git a/src/cairo-svg-surface.c b/src/cairo-svg-surface.c
index 1d8042558..56edf8fab 100644
--- a/src/cairo-svg-surface.c
+++ b/src/cairo-svg-surface.c
@@ -4051,6 +4051,9 @@ _cairo_svg_surface_show_text_glyphs_impl (cairo_svg_stream_t *output,
 	    return status;
 	}
 	char * utf8_str = _cairo_malloc_ab(utf8_len + 1, sizeof(char));
+    	if (unlikely (utf8_str == NULL)) {
+	    return _cairo_error (CAIRO_STATUS_NO_MEMORY);
+    	}
 	strncpy(utf8_str, utf8, utf8_len);
 	utf8_str[utf8_len] = '\0';
 	_cairo_svg_stream_printf (output,