diff --git a/libavcodec/alsdec.c b/libavcodec/alsdec.c
index c09401d257..029c37e99c 100644
--- a/libavcodec/alsdec.c
+++ b/libavcodec/alsdec.c
@@ -2111,7 +2111,9 @@ static av_cold int decode_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
             return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
         }
 
-        ff_mlz_init_dict(avctx, ctx->mlz);
+        ret = ff_mlz_init_dict(avctx, ctx->mlz);
+        if (ret < 0)
+            return ret;
         ff_mlz_flush_dict(ctx->mlz);
 
         for (c = 0; c < avctx->channels; ++c) {
diff --git a/libavcodec/mlz.c b/libavcodec/mlz.c
index dbeb7dcad9..9087ffd8f0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mlz.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mlz.c
@@ -20,8 +20,11 @@
 
 #include "mlz.h"
 
-av_cold void ff_mlz_init_dict(void* context, MLZ *mlz) {
+av_cold int ff_mlz_init_dict(void *context, MLZ *mlz)
+{
     mlz->dict = av_mallocz(TABLE_SIZE * sizeof(*mlz->dict));
+    if (!mlz->dict)
+        return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
 
     mlz->flush_code            = FLUSH_CODE;
     mlz->current_dic_index_max = DIC_INDEX_INIT;
@@ -30,6 +33,8 @@ av_cold void ff_mlz_init_dict(void* context, MLZ *mlz) {
     mlz->next_code             = FIRST_CODE;
     mlz->freeze_flag           = 0;
     mlz->context               = context;
+
+    return 0;
 }
 
 av_cold void ff_mlz_flush_dict(MLZ *mlz) {
diff --git a/libavcodec/mlz.h b/libavcodec/mlz.h
index c3df52c9b4..24993126ca 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mlz.h
+++ b/libavcodec/mlz.h
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ typedef struct MLZ {
 
 /** Initialize the dictionary
  */
-void ff_mlz_init_dict(void* context, MLZ *mlz);
+int ff_mlz_init_dict(void *context, MLZ *mlz);
 
 /** Flush the dictionary
  */