diff --git a/doc/xml/release.xml b/doc/xml/release.xml
index 646cb4b2f..b641d0c91 100644
--- a/doc/xml/release.xml
+++ b/doc/xml/release.xml
@@ -29,6 +29,18 @@
 
                         <p>Allow <quote>global</quote> as a stanza prefix.</p>
                     </release-item>
+
+                    <release-item>
+                        <github-issue id="1536"/>
+
+                        <release-item-contributor-list>
+                            <release-item-ideator id="henrik.feldt"/>
+                            <release-item-contributor id="david.steele"/>
+                            <release-item-reviewer id="stephen.frost"/>
+                        </release-item-contributor-list>
+
+                        <p>Fix segfault on invalid <proper>GCS</proper> key file.</p>
+                    </release-item>
                 </release-bug-list>
 
                 <release-improvement-list>
@@ -10376,6 +10388,11 @@
             <contributor-id type="github">crunchyheath</contributor-id>
         </contributor>
 
+        <contributor id="henrik.feldt">
+            <contributor-name-display>Henrik Feldt</contributor-name-display>
+            <contributor-id type="github">haf</contributor-id>
+        </contributor>
+
         <contributor id="ibrahim.edib.kokdemir">
             <contributor-name-display>Ibrahim Edib Kokdemir</contributor-name-display>
             <contributor-id type="github">Edib</contributor-id>
diff --git a/src/storage/gcs/storage.c b/src/storage/gcs/storage.c
index b4047848b..7975b9a15 100644
--- a/src/storage/gcs/storage.c
+++ b/src/storage/gcs/storage.c
@@ -966,7 +966,11 @@ storageGcsNew(
                 KeyValue *kvKey = jsonToKv(strNewBuf(storageGetP(storageNewReadP(storagePosixNewP(FSLASH_STR), key))));
                 driver->credential = varStr(kvGet(kvKey, GCS_JSON_CLIENT_EMAIL_VAR));
                 driver->privateKey = varStr(kvGet(kvKey, GCS_JSON_PRIVATE_KEY_VAR));
-                driver->authUrl = httpUrlNewParseP(varStr(kvGet(kvKey, GCS_JSON_TOKEN_URI_VAR)), .type = httpProtocolTypeHttps);
+                const String *const uri = varStr(kvGet(kvKey, GCS_JSON_TOKEN_URI_VAR));
+
+                CHECK(driver->credential != NULL && driver->privateKey != NULL && uri != NULL);
+
+                driver->authUrl = httpUrlNewParseP(uri, .type = httpProtocolTypeHttps);
 
                 driver->authClient = httpClientNew(
                     tlsClientNew(