diff --git a/usr.sbin/boot0cfg/boot0cfg.c b/usr.sbin/boot0cfg/boot0cfg.c
index f2cbf67a39d..c2cb91de416 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/boot0cfg/boot0cfg.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/boot0cfg/boot0cfg.c
@@ -336,8 +336,7 @@ read_mbr(const char *disk, u_int8_t **mbr, int check_version)
 	close(fd);
 	return (mbr_size);
     }
-    *mbr = malloc(sizeof(buf));
-    if (*mbr == NULL)
+    if ((*mbr = malloc(sizeof(buf))) == NULL)
 	errx(1, "%s: unable to allocate MBR buffer", disk);
     memcpy(*mbr, buf, sizeof(buf));
     close(fd);