diff --git a/libavcodec/mlp_parser.c b/libavcodec/mlp_parser.c
index 4ceea5e9e1e0ed61073fa2fe90bb43a71178707b..f31e2d572782ad5b3a63b60b639c250eef5c6068 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mlp_parser.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mlp_parser.c
@@ -263,6 +263,9 @@ static int mlp_parse(AVCodecParserContext *s,
         mp->bytes_left = ((mp->pc.index > 0 ? mp->pc.buffer[0] : buf[0]) << 8)
                        |  (mp->pc.index > 1 ? mp->pc.buffer[1] : buf[1-mp->pc.index]);
         mp->bytes_left = (mp->bytes_left & 0xfff) * 2;
+        if (mp->bytes_left <= 0) { // prevent infinite loop
+            goto lost_sync;
+        }
         mp->bytes_left -= mp->pc.index;
     }