diff --git a/tinysvcmdns.c b/tinysvcmdns.c
index ab6c80f0..90f9c826 100644
--- a/tinysvcmdns.c
+++ b/tinysvcmdns.c
@@ -123,21 +123,33 @@ uint8_t *join_nlabel(const uint8_t *n1, const uint8_t *n2) {
 char *nlabel_to_str(const uint8_t *name) {
   char *label, *labelp;
   const uint8_t *p;
+  size_t buf_len = 256;
 
   assert(name != NULL);
 
-  label = labelp = malloc(256);
+  label = labelp = malloc(buf_len);
 
   if (label) {
     for (p = name; *p; p++) {
-      strncpy(labelp, (char *)p + 1, *p);
-      labelp += *p;
+      uint8_t label_len = *p;
+      if (buf_len <= label_len)
+        break;
+
+      strncpy(labelp, (char *)p + 1, label_len);
+      labelp += label_len;
+
       *labelp = '.';
       labelp++;
 
-      p += *p;
+      buf_len -= label_len + 1;
+
+      p += label_len;
     }
 
+    // avoid writing NULL past end of buffer
+    if (buf_len == 0)
+      labelp--;
+
     *labelp = '\0';
   } else {
     die("could not allocate memory for \"label\" in tinysvcmdns.c.");