diff --git a/src/libmdb/backend.c b/src/libmdb/backend.c
index 39e1bb0..dae0ab6 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/backend.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/backend.c
@@ -661,8 +661,10 @@ mdb_get_relationships(MdbHandle *mdb, const gchar *dbnamespace, const char* tabl
 			fprintf(stderr, "No MSysRelationships\n");
 			return NULL;
 		}
-
-		mdb_read_columns(mdb->relationships_table);
+		if (!mdb_read_columns(mdb->relationships_table)) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "Unable to read columns of MSysRelationships\n");
+			return NULL;
+		}
 		for (i=0;i<5;i++) {
 			bound[i] = g_malloc0(mdb->bind_size);
 		}
@@ -791,7 +793,7 @@ generate_table_schema(FILE *outfile, MdbCatalogEntry *entry, char *dbnamespace,
 	table = mdb_read_table (entry);
 
 	/* get the columns */
-	mdb_read_columns (table);
+	mdb_read_columns(table);
 
 	/* loop over the columns, dumping the names and types */
 	for (i = 0; i < table->num_cols; i++) {
diff --git a/src/libmdb/catalog.c b/src/libmdb/catalog.c
index 2f050e7..b9cfdfa 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/catalog.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/catalog.c
@@ -104,7 +104,11 @@ GPtrArray *mdb_read_catalog (MdbHandle *mdb, int objtype)
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-	mdb_read_columns(table);
+	if (!mdb_read_columns(table)) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Unable to read columns of table %s\n", msysobj.object_name);
+		mdb_free_catalog(mdb);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
 
     if (mdb_bind_column_by_name(table, "Id", obj_id, NULL) == -1 ||
         mdb_bind_column_by_name(table, "Name", obj_name, NULL) == -1 ||
diff --git a/src/libmdb/data.c b/src/libmdb/data.c
index d58668b..bbc404d 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/data.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/data.c
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ int mdb_bind_column(MdbTableDef *table, int col_num, void *bind_ptr, int *len_pt
 {
 	MdbColumn *col = NULL;
 
+	if (!table->columns)
+		return -1;
 	/* 
 	** the column arrary is 0 based, so decrement to get 1 based parameter 
 	*/
@@ -104,6 +106,9 @@ mdb_bind_column_by_name(MdbTableDef *table, gchar *col_name, void *bind_ptr, int
 	unsigned int i;
 	int col_num = -1;
 	MdbColumn *col;
+
+	if (!table->columns)
+		return -1;
 	
 	for (i=0;i<table->num_cols;i++) {
 		col=g_ptr_array_index(table->columns,i);
@@ -304,7 +309,7 @@ int mdb_read_row(MdbTableDef *table, unsigned int row)
 	MdbField *fields;
 	int num_fields;
 
-	if (table->num_cols == 0)
+	if (table->num_cols == 0 || !table->columns)
 		return 0;
 
 	if (mdb_find_row(mdb, row, &row_start, &row_size) == -1 || row_size == 0) {
diff --git a/src/libmdb/index.c b/src/libmdb/index.c
index 049fb82..65b614b 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/index.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/index.c
@@ -238,7 +238,11 @@ mdb_read_indices(MdbTableDef *table)
 	table->num_real_idxs = 0;
 	tmpbuf = g_malloc(idx2_sz);
 	for (i=0;i<table->num_idxs;i++) {
-		read_pg_if_n(mdb, tmpbuf, &cur_pos, idx2_sz);
+		if (!read_pg_if_n(mdb, tmpbuf, &cur_pos, idx2_sz)) {
+			g_free(tmpbuf);
+			mdb_free_indices(table->indices);
+			return table->indices = NULL;
+		}
                 //fprintf(stderr, "Index defn: ");
                 //hexdump((unsigned char *)tmpbuf, idx2_sz);
 		pidx = g_malloc0(sizeof(MdbIndex));
@@ -273,8 +277,8 @@ mdb_read_indices(MdbTableDef *table)
 			name_sz=read_pg_if_16(mdb, &cur_pos);
 		}
 		tmpbuf = g_malloc(name_sz);
-		read_pg_if_n(mdb, tmpbuf, &cur_pos, name_sz);
-		mdb_unicode2ascii(mdb, tmpbuf, name_sz, pidx->name, sizeof(pidx->name));
+		if (read_pg_if_n(mdb, tmpbuf, &cur_pos, name_sz))
+			mdb_unicode2ascii(mdb, tmpbuf, name_sz, pidx->name, sizeof(pidx->name));
 		g_free(tmpbuf);
 		//fprintf(stderr, "index %d type %d name %s\n", pidx->index_num, pidx->index_type, pidx->name);
 	}
diff --git a/src/libmdb/table.c b/src/libmdb/table.c
index ad01da3..f318f75 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/table.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/table.c
@@ -169,25 +169,35 @@ void *
 read_pg_if_n(MdbHandle *mdb, void *buf, int *cur_pos, size_t len)
 {
 	char* _buf = buf;
+	char* _end = buf ? buf + len : NULL;
+
+	if (*cur_pos < 0)
+		return NULL;
 
 	/* Advance to page which contains the first byte */
 	while (*cur_pos >= mdb->fmt->pg_size) {
-		mdb_read_pg(mdb, mdb_get_int32(mdb->pg_buf,4));
+		if (!mdb_read_pg(mdb, mdb_get_int32(mdb->pg_buf,4)))
+			return NULL;
 		*cur_pos -= (mdb->fmt->pg_size - 8);
 	}
 	/* Copy pages into buffer */
 	while (*cur_pos + len >= (size_t)mdb->fmt->pg_size) {
-		int piece_len = mdb->fmt->pg_size - *cur_pos;
+		size_t piece_len = mdb->fmt->pg_size - *cur_pos;
 		if (_buf) {
+			if (_buf + piece_len > _end)
+				return NULL;
 			memcpy(_buf, mdb->pg_buf + *cur_pos, piece_len);
 			_buf += piece_len;
 		}
 		len -= piece_len;
-		mdb_read_pg(mdb, mdb_get_int32(mdb->pg_buf,4));
+		if (!mdb_read_pg(mdb, mdb_get_int32(mdb->pg_buf,4)))
+			return NULL;
 		*cur_pos = 8;
 	}
 	/* Copy into buffer from final page */
 	if (len && _buf) {
+		if (_buf + len > _end)
+			return NULL;
 		memcpy(_buf, mdb->pg_buf + *cur_pos, len);
 	}
 	*cur_pos += len;
@@ -246,7 +256,11 @@ GPtrArray *mdb_read_columns(MdbTableDef *table)
 	/* printf("column %d\n", i);
 	mdb_buffer_dump(mdb->pg_buf, cur_pos, fmt->tab_col_entry_size); */
 #endif
-		read_pg_if_n(mdb, col, &cur_pos, fmt->tab_col_entry_size);
+		if (!read_pg_if_n(mdb, col, &cur_pos, fmt->tab_col_entry_size)) {
+			g_free(col);
+			mdb_free_columns(table->columns);
+			return table->columns = NULL;
+		}
 		pcol = g_malloc0(sizeof(MdbColumn));
 
 		pcol->table = table;
@@ -305,8 +319,8 @@ GPtrArray *mdb_read_columns(MdbTableDef *table)
 		else
 			name_sz = read_pg_if_16(mdb, &cur_pos);
 		tmp_buf = g_malloc(name_sz);
-		read_pg_if_n(mdb, tmp_buf, &cur_pos, name_sz);
-		mdb_unicode2ascii(mdb, tmp_buf, name_sz, pcol->name, sizeof(pcol->name));
+		if (read_pg_if_n(mdb, tmp_buf, &cur_pos, name_sz))
+			mdb_unicode2ascii(mdb, tmp_buf, name_sz, pcol->name, sizeof(pcol->name));
 		g_free(tmp_buf);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/odbc/odbc.c b/src/odbc/odbc.c
index aa3e6ee..dafad52 100644
--- a/src/odbc/odbc.c
+++ b/src/odbc/odbc.c
@@ -1344,7 +1344,10 @@ SQLRETURN SQL_API SQLColumns(
 			LogStatementError(stmt, "Could not read table '%s'", szTableName);
 			return SQL_ERROR;
 		}
-		mdb_read_columns(table);
+		if (!mdb_read_columns(table)) {
+			LogStatementError(stmt, "Could not read columns of table '%s'", szTableName);
+			return SQL_ERROR;
+		}
 		for (j=0; j<table->num_cols; j++) {
 			col = g_ptr_array_index(table->columns, j);
 
diff --git a/src/sql/mdbsql.c b/src/sql/mdbsql.c
index 4849aa7..9bacd3c 100644
--- a/src/sql/mdbsql.c
+++ b/src/sql/mdbsql.c
@@ -696,7 +696,12 @@ void mdb_sql_describe_table(MdbSQL *sql)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	mdb_read_columns(table);
+	if (!mdb_read_columns(table)) {
+		mdb_sql_error(sql, "Could not read columns of table %s", sql_tab->name);
+		/* the column and table names are no good now */
+		mdb_sql_reset(sql);
+		return;
+    }
 
 	ttable = mdb_create_temp_table(mdb, "#describe");
 
@@ -794,7 +799,12 @@ int found = 0;
 		mdb_sql_reset(sql);
 		return;
 	}
-	mdb_read_columns(table);
+	if (!mdb_read_columns(table)) {
+		mdb_sql_error(sql, "Could not read columns of table %s", sql_tab->name);
+		/* the column and table names are no good now */
+		mdb_sql_reset(sql);
+		return;
+    }
 
 	if (sql->sel_count && !sql->sarg_tree) {
 		MdbTableDef *ttable = mdb_create_temp_table(mdb, "#count");