diff --git a/apps/apps.c b/apps/apps.c
index d646caa35..9b07e913c 100644
--- a/apps/apps.c
+++ b/apps/apps.c
@@ -361,10 +361,17 @@ int chopup_args(ARGS *arg, char *buf, int *argc, char **argv[])
 		/* The start of something good :-) */
 		if (num >= arg->count)
 			{
-			arg->count+=20;
-			arg->data=(char **)OPENSSL_realloc(arg->data,
-				sizeof(char *)*arg->count);
-			if (argc == 0) return(0);
+			char **tmp_p;
+			int tlen = arg->count + 20;
+			tmp_p = (char **)OPENSSL_realloc(arg->data,
+				sizeof(char *)*tlen);
+			if (tmp_p == NULL)
+				return 0;
+			arg->data  = tmp_p;
+			arg->count = tlen;
+			/* initialize newly allocated data */
+			for (i = num; i < arg->count; i++)
+				arg->data[i] = NULL;
 			}
 		arg->data[num++]=p;