diff --git a/contrib/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c b/contrib/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c
index cb5f5770e4c6ba73df06ea8c7d72794bde1ca796..f767cccc50fe09318f6294a7042c49fc78368694 100644
--- a/contrib/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c
+++ b/contrib/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c
@@ -2098,7 +2098,8 @@ virtqueue_alloc_element(size_t sz,
     size_t out_sg_end = out_sg_ofs + out_num * sizeof(elem->out_sg[0]);
 
     assert(sz >= sizeof(VuVirtqElement));
-    elem = malloc(out_sg_end);
+    if ( (elem = malloc(out_sg_end)) == NULL)
+        return NULL;
     elem->out_num = out_num;
     elem->in_num = in_num;
     elem->in_sg = (void *)elem + in_sg_ofs;
@@ -2177,6 +2178,8 @@ vu_queue_map_desc(VuDev *dev, VuVirtq *vq, unsigned int idx, size_t sz)
 
     /* Now copy what we have collected and mapped */
     elem = virtqueue_alloc_element(sz, out_num, in_num);
+    if (elem == NULL)
+        return NULL;
     elem->index = idx;
     for (i = 0; i < out_num; i++) {
         elem->out_sg[i] = iov[i];