diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index beccb5297..a75883387 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
    - markus@cvs.openbsd.org 2001/12/25 18:49:56
      [key.c]
      be more careful on allocation
+   - markus@cvs.openbsd.org 2001/12/25 18:53:00
+     [auth1.c]
+     be more carefull on allocation
 
 20020121
  - (djm) Rework ssh-rand-helper:
@@ -7176,4 +7179,4 @@
  - Wrote replacements for strlcpy and mkdtemp
  - Released 1.0pre1
 
-$Id: ChangeLog,v 1.1730 2002/01/22 12:07:21 djm Exp $
+$Id: ChangeLog,v 1.1731 2002/01/22 12:07:52 djm Exp $
diff --git a/auth1.c b/auth1.c
index 3aac26fcc..41628cedc 100644
--- a/auth1.c
+++ b/auth1.c
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "includes.h"
-RCSID("$OpenBSD: auth1.c,v 1.27 2001/12/19 07:18:56 deraadt Exp $");
+RCSID("$OpenBSD: auth1.c,v 1.28 2001/12/25 18:53:00 markus Exp $");
 
 #include "xmalloc.h"
 #include "rsa.h"
@@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ do_authloop(Authctxt *authctxt)
 			}
 			/* RSA authentication requested. */
 			n = BN_new();
+			if (n == NULL)
+				fatal("BN_new failed");
 			packet_get_bignum(n, &nlen);
 			packet_integrity_check(plen, nlen, type);
 			authenticated = auth_rsa(pw, n);