diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index b4e7ed6b6b..58dfe971e1 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -881,6 +881,11 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_open2(AVCodecContext *avctx, const AVCodec *code
                 avctx->channel_layout = 0;
             }
         }
+        if (avctx->channels && avctx->channels < 0 ||
+            avctx->channels > FF_SANE_NB_CHANNELS) {
+            ret = AVERROR(EINVAL);
+            goto free_and_end;
+        }
     }
 end:
     entangled_thread_counter--;