diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/coding.c b/wolfcrypt/src/coding.c
index 1b6bd5795..a35fd4356 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/coding.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/coding.c
@@ -117,10 +117,18 @@ static WC_INLINE int Base64_SkipNewline(const byte* in, word32 *inLen, word32 *o
 {
     word32 len = *inLen;
     word32 j = *outJ;
-    byte curChar = in[j];
+    byte curChar;
+
+    if (len == 0) {
+        return BUFFER_E;
+    }
+
+    curChar = in[j++];
+    len--;
+
     while (len && curChar == ' ') {
         /* skip whitespace in the middle or end of line */
-        curChar = in[++j];
+        curChar = in[j++];
         len--;
     }
     if (len && (curChar == '\r' || curChar == '\n')) {