diff --git a/drivers/auxdisplay/line-display.c b/drivers/auxdisplay/line-display.c
index fb6d9294140d..915eb5cd96b2 100644
--- a/drivers/auxdisplay/line-display.c
+++ b/drivers/auxdisplay/line-display.c
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ static int linedisp_display(struct linedisp *linedisp, const char *msg,
 		count = strlen(msg);
 
 	/* if the string ends with a newline, trim it */
-	if (msg[count - 1] == '\n')
+	if (count && msg[count - 1] == '\n')
 		count--;
 
 	if (!count) {