1 files changed, 2 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/coreutils/printf.c b/coreutils/printf.c
index bc22e0ee7..65bb5a935 100644
--- a/coreutils/printf.c
+++ b/coreutils/printf.c
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ static char **print_formatted(char *f, char **argv, int *conv_err)
                                 }
                                 break;
                         }
-                        if (strchr("-+ #", *f)) {
+                        if (*f && strchr("-+ #", *f)) {
                                 ++f;
                                 ++direc_length;
                         }
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ static char **print_formatted(char *f, char **argv, int *conv_err)
                                 static const char format_chars[] ALIGN1 = "diouxXfeEgGcs";
                                 char *p = strchr(format_chars, *f);
                                 /* needed - try "printf %" without it */
-                                if (p == NULL) {
+                                if (p == NULL || *f == '\0') {
                                         bb_error_msg("%s: invalid format", direc_start);
                                         /* causes main() to exit with error */
                                         return saved_argv - 1;