diff --git a/cmdline/support.c b/cmdline/support.c
index 0476805f..0715de56 100644
--- a/cmdline/support.c
+++ b/cmdline/support.c
@@ -2142,7 +2142,7 @@ void malloc_fail(size_t size)
 
 void* malloc_nofail(size_t size)
 {
-	void* ptr = malloc(size);
+	void* ptr = malloc(size ? size : 1);
 
 	if (!ptr) {
 		/* LCOV_EXCL_START */
@@ -2175,7 +2175,7 @@ void* calloc_nofail(size_t count, size_t size)
 	size *= count;
 
 	/* see the note in malloc_nofail() of why we don't use calloc() */
-	ptr = malloc(size);
+	ptr = malloc(size ? size : 1);
 
 	if (!ptr) {
 		/* LCOV_EXCL_START */