diff --git a/ext/openssl/openssl.c b/ext/openssl/openssl.c
index 949f5d76245e..164cf0862861 100644
--- a/ext/openssl/openssl.c
+++ b/ext/openssl/openssl.c
@@ -7379,6 +7379,12 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(openssl_digest)
 	sigbuf = zend_string_alloc(siglen, 0);
 
 	md_ctx = EVP_MD_CTX_create();
+
+	// add check against NULL
+	if (md_ctx == NULL) {
+		RETURN_FALSE;
+	}
+
 	if (EVP_DigestInit(md_ctx, mdtype) &&
 			EVP_DigestUpdate(md_ctx, (unsigned char *)data, data_len) &&
 			EVP_DigestFinal (md_ctx, (unsigned char *)ZSTR_VAL(sigbuf), &siglen)) {