diff --git a/tools/gpio/gpio-hammer.c b/tools/gpio/gpio-hammer.c
index 0e0060a6eb34..083399d276e4 100644
--- a/tools/gpio/gpio-hammer.c
+++ b/tools/gpio/gpio-hammer.c
@@ -135,7 +135,14 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			device_name = optarg;
 			break;
 		case 'o':
-			lines[i] = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 10);
+			/*
+			 * Avoid overflow. Do not immediately error, we want to
+			 * be able to accurately report on the amount of times
+			 * '-o' was given to give an accurate error message
+			 */
+			if (i < GPIOHANDLES_MAX)
+				lines[i] = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 10);
+
 			i++;
 			break;
 		case '?':
@@ -143,6 +150,14 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			return -1;
 		}
 	}
+
+	if (i >= GPIOHANDLES_MAX) {
+		fprintf(stderr,
+			"Only %d occurences of '-o' are allowed, %d were found\n",
+			GPIOHANDLES_MAX, i + 1);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
 	nlines = i;
 
 	if (!device_name || !nlines) {