diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 430cbe61..1dc8dd87 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
 int stringmatchlen(const char *pattern, int patternLen,
         const char *string, int stringLen, int nocase)
 {
-    while(patternLen) {
+    while(patternLen && stringLen) {
         switch(pattern[0]) {
         case '*':
             while (pattern[1] == '*') {