diff --git a/src/kernel/qasyncimageio.cpp b/src/kernel/qasyncimageio.cpp
index 7be8ddb..18b3cca 100644
--- a/src/kernel/qasyncimageio.cpp
+++ b/src/kernel/qasyncimageio.cpp
@@ -964,9 +964,12 @@ int QGIFFormat::decode(QImage& img, QImageConsumer* consumer,
 		    if (backingstore.width() < w
 			|| backingstore.height() < h) {
 			// We just use the backing store as a byte array
-			backingstore.create( QMAX(backingstore.width(), w),
-					     QMAX(backingstore.height(), h),
-					     32);
+			if(!backingstore.create( QMAX(backingstore.width(), w),
+						 QMAX(backingstore.height(), h),
+						 32)) {
+				state = Error;
+				return -1;
+			}
 			memset( img.bits(), 0, img.numBytes() );
 		    }
 		    for (int ln=0; ln<h; ln++) {