diff --git a/src/XrdHttp/XrdHttpProtocol.cc b/src/XrdHttp/XrdHttpProtocol.cc
index 6f41748659c..27fc59dbd8a 100644
--- a/src/XrdHttp/XrdHttpProtocol.cc
+++ b/src/XrdHttp/XrdHttpProtocol.cc
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ int XrdHttpProtocol::Process(XrdLink *lp) // We ignore the argument here
     while ((rc = BuffgetLine(tmpline)) > 0) {
       TRACE(DEBUG, " rc:" << rc << " got hdr line: " << tmpline);
 
-      if ((rc == 2) && (tmpline[rc - 1] == '\n')) {
+      if ((rc == 2) && (tmpline.length() > 1) && (tmpline[rc - 1] == '\n')) {
         CurrentReq.headerok = true;
         TRACE(DEBUG, " rc:" << rc << " detected header end.");
         break;