diff --git a/libavformat/rl2.c b/libavformat/rl2.c
index b2be7c0ca9..b138d7bf46 100644
--- a/libavformat/rl2.c
+++ b/libavformat/rl2.c
@@ -109,6 +109,10 @@ static av_cold int rl2_read_header(AVFormatContext *s,
     rate = avio_rl16(pb);
     channels = avio_rl16(pb);
     def_sound_size = avio_rl16(pb);
+    if (!channels || channels > 42) {
+        av_log(s, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid number of channels: %d\n", channels);
+        return AVERROR_INVALIDDATA;
+    }
 
     /** setup video stream */
     st = avformat_new_stream(s, NULL);