diff --git a/kernel-src/lib/string.c b/kernel-src/lib/string.c
index 79aee8b5..55a90f60 100644
--- a/kernel-src/lib/string.c
+++ b/kernel-src/lib/string.c
@@ -68,8 +68,9 @@ size_t strlen(const char *a) {
 int strncmp(const char *a, const char *b, size_t c) {
 	int diff = 0;
 
-	while (c-- && diff == 0)
-	diff += *a++ - *b++;
+	while (c-- && diff == 0 && *a) {
+		diff += *a++ - *b++;
+	}
 
 	return diff;
 }