diff --git a/src/dird/catreq.c b/src/dird/catreq.c
index b2cd4cc8b04..15ab212e191 100644
--- a/src/dird/catreq.c
+++ b/src/dird/catreq.c
@@ -659,7 +659,10 @@ bool despool_attributes_from_file(JCR *jcr, const char *file)
       size += sizeof(int32_t);
       msglen = ntohl(pktsiz);
       if (msglen > 0) {
-         if (msglen > (int32_t) sizeof_pool_memory(msg)) {
+        /*
+         * check for msglen + \0
+         */
+         if ((msglen + 1) > (int32_t) sizeof_pool_memory(msg)) {
             msg = realloc_pool_memory(msg, msglen + 1);
          }
          nbytes = fread(msg, 1, msglen, spool_fd);