diff --git a/src/os/unix/ngx_process_cycle.c b/src/os/unix/ngx_process_cycle.c
index fb10d7746..3205aa555 100644
--- a/src/os/unix/ngx_process_cycle.c
+++ b/src/os/unix/ngx_process_cycle.c
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@ ngx_master_process_cycle(ngx_cycle_t *cycle)
     }
 
     title = ngx_pnalloc(cycle->pool, size);
+    if (title == NULL) {
+        /* fatal */
+        exit(2);
+    }
 
     p = ngx_cpymem(title, master_process, sizeof(master_process) - 1);
     for (i = 0; i < ngx_argc; i++) {