diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_drawtext.c b/libavfilter/vf_drawtext.c
index d2d3bd8f69..70f2209c8e 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_drawtext.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_drawtext.c
@@ -1435,8 +1435,13 @@ continue_on_failed:
     }
 
     s->line_count = line_count;
-    s->lines = av_mallocz(line_count * sizeof(TextLine));
-    s->tab_clusters = av_mallocz(s->tab_count * sizeof(uint32_t));
+    s->lines = av_calloc(line_count, sizeof(TextLine));
+    s->tab_clusters = av_calloc(s->tab_count, sizeof(uint32_t));
+    if ((line_count > 0 && !s->lines) ||
+        (s->tab_count > 0 && !s->tab_clusters)) {
+        ret = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+        goto done;
+    }
     for (i = 0; i < s->tab_count; ++i) {
         s->tab_clusters[i] = -1;
     }