diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 952c526..d0f00c5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ compiler:
 
 before_install:
   - sudo apt-get update -qq
-  - sudo apt-get install -qq asciidoc libarchive-dev liblzma-dev xz-utils
+  - sudo apt-get install -qq asciidoc cppcheck libarchive-dev liblzma-dev xz-utils
 
 script:
   - autoconf --version
diff --git a/src/common.c b/src/common.c
index 99e018f..ade5505 100644
--- a/src/common.c
+++ b/src/common.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "pixz.h"
 
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <math.h>
 
@@ -213,7 +214,16 @@ static void read_file_index_make_space(void) {
     if (expand || gMoved >= gFIBSize) { // malloc more space
         gStream.avail_out += gFIBSize;
         gFIBSize *= 2;
-        gFileIndexBuf = realloc(gFileIndexBuf, gFIBSize);
+
+        uint8_t *new_gFileIndexBuf = realloc(gFileIndexBuf, gFIBSize);
+
+        if (new_gFileIndexBuf == NULL) {
+          // TODO is recovery possible? does it even make sense?
+          // @see https://github.com/vasi/pixz/issues/8#issuecomment-134113347
+          die("memory re-allocation failure: %s", strerror(errno));
+        } else {
+          gFileIndexBuf = new_gFileIndexBuf;
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/Makefile.am b/test/Makefile.am
index 133fd69..6aebb6f 100644
--- a/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 TESTS = \
 	compress-file-permissions.sh \
+	cppcheck-src.sh \
 	single-file-round-trip.sh \
 	xz-compatibility-c-option.sh
 
diff --git a/test/cppcheck-src.sh b/test/cppcheck-src.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5c77b15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cppcheck-src.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if which cppcheck &> /dev/null ; then
+  cppcheck --error-exitcode=1 $srcdir/../src
+else
+  echo "no cppcheck, skipping test"
+  exit 77
+fi