diff --git a/programs/pkey/pk_sign.c b/programs/pkey/pk_sign.c
index 7354082..4696c7c 100644
--- a/programs/pkey/pk_sign.c
+++ b/programs/pkey/pk_sign.c
@@ -72,6 +72,16 @@
 }
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * For the currently used signature algorithms the buffer to store any signature
+ * must be at least of size MAX(MBEDTLS_ECDSA_MAX_LEN, MBEDTLS_MPI_MAX_SIZE)
+ */
+#if MBEDTLS_ECDSA_MAX_LEN > MBEDTLS_MPI_MAX_SIZE
+#define SIGNATURE_MAX_SIZE MBEDTLS_ECDSA_MAX_LEN
+#else
+#define SIGNATURE_MAX_SIZE MBEDTLS_MPI_MAX_SIZE
+#endif
+
 int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
 {
     FILE *f;
@@ -81,7 +91,7 @@
     mbedtls_entropy_context entropy;
     mbedtls_ctr_drbg_context ctr_drbg;
     unsigned char hash[32];
-    unsigned char buf[MBEDTLS_MPI_MAX_SIZE];
+    unsigned char buf[SIGNATURE_MAX_SIZE];
     char filename[512];
     const char *pers = "mbedtls_pk_sign";
     size_t olen = 0;