diff --git a/src/vppinfra/unix-misc.c b/src/vppinfra/unix-misc.c
index 2918fc3..6a7328b 100644
--- a/src/vppinfra/unix-misc.c
+++ b/src/vppinfra/unix-misc.c
@@ -148,11 +148,11 @@
 
   r = readlink ((char *) link, buffer, sizeof (buffer) - 1);
   vec_free (link);
-  buffer[r] = 0;
 
   if (r < 1)
     return 0;
 
+  buffer[r] = 0;
   p = buffer + r - 1;
   while (p > buffer && p[-1] != '/')
     p--;