diff --git a/libavcodec/pcx.c b/libavcodec/pcx.c
index a6f9d8d2626022b9b06d2e8cca8087c01589f60a..fd8bb2a6cbf1f832f8879264df8e5fd36236f054 100644
--- a/libavcodec/pcx.c
+++ b/libavcodec/pcx.c
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ static int pcx_decode_frame(AVCodecContext *avctx, void *data, int *got_frame,
         }
         if (*buf++ != 12) {
             av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "expected palette after image data\n");
+            ret = buf_size;
             goto end;
         }
     } else if (nplanes == 1) {   /* all packed formats, max. 16 colors */