diff --git a/lib/decompress_inflate.c b/lib/decompress_inflate.c
index 19ff89e34eec..d619b28c456f 100644
--- a/lib/decompress_inflate.c
+++ b/lib/decompress_inflate.c
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ STATIC int INIT gunzip(unsigned char *buf, int len,
 		out_len = 0x8000; /* 32 K */
 		out_buf = malloc(out_len);
 	} else {
-		out_len = 0x7fffffff; /* no limit */
+		out_len = ((size_t)~0) - (size_t)out_buf; /* no limit */
 	}
 	if (!out_buf) {
 		error("Out of memory while allocating output buffer");