diff --git a/library/bignum.c b/library/bignum.c
index 8b9082c..4e7c6e4 100644
--- a/library/bignum.c
+++ b/library/bignum.c
@@ -616,11 +616,11 @@
     if( slen == sizeof( s ) - 2 )
         return( MBEDTLS_ERR_MPI_BUFFER_TOO_SMALL );
 
-    if( s[slen - 1] == '\n' ) { slen--; s[slen] = '\0'; }
-    if( s[slen - 1] == '\r' ) { slen--; s[slen] = '\0'; }
+    if( slen > 0 && s[slen - 1] == '\n' ) { slen--; s[slen] = '\0'; }
+    if( slen > 0 && s[slen - 1] == '\r' ) { slen--; s[slen] = '\0'; }
 
     p = s + slen;
-    while( --p >= s )
+    while( p-- > s )
         if( mpi_get_digit( &d, radix, *p ) != 0 )
             break;