diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index fc329677ad..a9e6787c55 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2014-11-21  Alexander Cherepanov  <cherepan@mccme.ru>
+
+	PR binutils/17512
+	* coffgen.c (_bfd_coff_read_string_table): Test allocation of
+	string table before clearing the first few bytes.
+
 2014-11-21  Terry Guo  <terry.guo@arm.com>
 
 	* elf32-arm.c (elf32_arm_merge_eabi_attributes): Support FPv5.
diff --git a/bfd/coffgen.c b/bfd/coffgen.c
index a22f67a69d..f19efc3aff 100644
--- a/bfd/coffgen.c
+++ b/bfd/coffgen.c
@@ -1711,15 +1711,15 @@ _bfd_coff_read_string_table (bfd *abfd)
     }
 
   strings = (char *) bfd_malloc (strsize + 1);
+  if (strings == NULL)
+    return NULL;
+
   /* PR 17521 file: 079-54929-0.004.
      A corrupt file could contain an index that points into the first
      STRING_SIZE_SIZE bytes of the string table, so make sure that
      they are zero.  */
   memset (strings, 0, STRING_SIZE_SIZE);
 
-  if (strings == NULL)
-    return NULL;
-
   if (bfd_bread (strings + STRING_SIZE_SIZE, strsize - STRING_SIZE_SIZE, abfd)
       != strsize - STRING_SIZE_SIZE)
     {