diff --git a/src/event/ngx_event_openssl.c b/src/event/ngx_event_openssl.c
index 104dd03f2..89f277fe5 100644
--- a/src/event/ngx_event_openssl.c
+++ b/src/event/ngx_event_openssl.c
@@ -5187,6 +5187,9 @@ ngx_ssl_get_curves(ngx_connection_t *c, ngx_pool_t *pool, ngx_str_t *s)
     }
 
     curves = ngx_palloc(pool, n * sizeof(int));
+    if (curves == NULL) {
+        return NGX_ERROR;
+    }
 
     n = SSL_get1_curves(c->ssl->connection, curves);
     len = 0;