diff --git a/common/spl/spl.c b/common/spl/spl.c
index 82e7f58e80f028f7517ec52bd0d73566dae82d28..72596195163da5101d7bbbe43422cee67a61c65d 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl.c
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ void spl_set_header_raw_uboot(void)
 	spl_image.name = "U-Boot";
 }
 
-void spl_parse_image_header(const struct image_header *header)
+int spl_parse_image_header(const struct image_header *header)
 {
 	u32 header_size = sizeof(struct image_header);
 
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ void spl_parse_image_header(const struct image_header *header)
 		spl_set_header_raw_uboot();
 #endif
 	}
+	return 0;
 }
 
 __weak void __noreturn jump_to_image_no_args(struct spl_image_info *spl_image)
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_ext.c b/common/spl/spl_ext.c
index b77dbf4d0ca11b8235629e8d6d4b85dfaaaf1a1a..ade5496600930c4f2a84ac76d1a9467576dcb3fa 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_ext.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_ext.c
@@ -48,7 +48,11 @@ int spl_load_image_ext(struct blk_desc *block_dev,
 		goto end;
 	}
 
-	spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	err = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	if (err < 0) {
+		puts("spl: ext4fs_read failed\n");
+		goto end;
+	}
 
 	err = ext4fs_read((char *)spl_image.load_addr, filelen, &actlen);
 
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_fat.c b/common/spl/spl_fat.c
index d761b264c139aba5c0229af4d02139e6626660eb..338ea2f092b8dc9b250626efc91d44e68716e199 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_fat.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_fat.c
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ int spl_load_image_fat(struct blk_desc *block_dev,
 	if (err <= 0)
 		goto end;
 
-	spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	err = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	if (err <= 0)
+		goto end;
 
 	err = file_fat_read(filename, (u8 *)spl_image.load_addr, 0);
 
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_mmc.c b/common/spl/spl_mmc.c
index 8d588d13a365cae687437a58606069f27509d465..360c754050f2821c479056d8f32830461a957cfe 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_mmc.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_mmc.c
@@ -23,8 +23,12 @@ static int mmc_load_legacy(struct mmc *mmc, ulong sector,
 {
 	u32 image_size_sectors;
 	unsigned long count;
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
 
-	spl_parse_image_header(header);
 	/* convert size to sectors - round up */
 	image_size_sectors = (spl_image.size + mmc->read_bl_len - 1) /
 			     mmc->read_bl_len;
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_nand.c b/common/spl/spl_nand.c
index 79388ff326a828f89eea814edf66e7b03d7ac5a2..bbd95469870f29ee07edfbf860349d598991ed3f 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_nand.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_nand.c
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ static int spl_nand_load_element(int offset, struct image_header *header)
 	if (err)
 		return err;
 
-	spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	err = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
+
 	return nand_spl_load_image(offset, spl_image.size,
 				   (void *)(unsigned long)spl_image.load_addr);
 }
@@ -77,7 +80,9 @@ int spl_nand_load_image(void)
 		/* load linux */
 		nand_spl_load_image(CONFIG_SYS_NAND_SPL_KERNEL_OFFS,
 			sizeof(*header), (void *)header);
-		spl_parse_image_header(header);
+		err = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
 		if (header->ih_os == IH_OS_LINUX) {
 			/* happy - was a linux */
 			err = nand_spl_load_image(
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_net.c b/common/spl/spl_net.c
index 63b20d820008eee3febf7b6065712c3f43e8eff5..ae71d26f0a61e730d88f6c0e93fc1358a6c5ec5a 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_net.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_net.c
@@ -34,7 +34,5 @@ int spl_net_load_image(const char *device)
 		printf("Problem booting with BOOTP\n");
 		return rv;
 	}
-	spl_parse_image_header((struct image_header *)load_addr);
-
-	return 0;
+	return spl_parse_image_header((struct image_header *)load_addr);
 }
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_nor.c b/common/spl/spl_nor.c
index d0bd0b05333ba3bcb993f9bd9908efb5c9a16dc0..da2422f30515ac07d1af7161ac7ae906783de3f7 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_nor.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_nor.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 int spl_nor_load_image(void)
 {
+	int ret;
 	/*
 	 * Loading of the payload to SDRAM is done with skipping of
 	 * the mkimage header in this SPL NOR driver
@@ -28,7 +29,9 @@ int spl_nor_load_image(void)
 		if (image_get_os(header) == IH_OS_LINUX) {
 			/* happy - was a Linux */
 
-			spl_parse_image_header(header);
+			ret = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
 
 			memcpy((void *)spl_image.load_addr,
 			       (void *)(CONFIG_SYS_OS_BASE +
@@ -56,8 +59,10 @@ int spl_nor_load_image(void)
 	 * Load real U-Boot from its location in NOR flash to its
 	 * defined location in SDRAM
 	 */
-	spl_parse_image_header(
+	ret = spl_parse_image_header(
 			(const struct image_header *)CONFIG_SYS_UBOOT_BASE);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
 
 	memcpy((void *)(unsigned long)spl_image.load_addr,
 	       (void *)(CONFIG_SYS_UBOOT_BASE + sizeof(struct image_header)),
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_onenand.c b/common/spl/spl_onenand.c
index af7d82eb62f39959c1a2b194ec879e11fb0c9bb5..1a28a84e4407a252706a2a3eb4870dd72b39503f 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_onenand.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_onenand.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 int spl_onenand_load_image(void)
 {
 	struct image_header *header;
+	int ret;
 
 	debug("spl: onenand\n");
 
@@ -25,7 +26,9 @@ int spl_onenand_load_image(void)
 	/* Load u-boot */
 	onenand_spl_load_image(CONFIG_SYS_ONENAND_U_BOOT_OFFS,
 		CONFIG_SYS_ONENAND_PAGE_SIZE, (void *)header);
-	spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	ret = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
 	onenand_spl_load_image(CONFIG_SYS_ONENAND_U_BOOT_OFFS,
 		spl_image.size, (void *)spl_image.load_addr);
 
diff --git a/common/spl/spl_ymodem.c b/common/spl/spl_ymodem.c
index 380d8ddf52831a0b175a10838fcc2274d6190e48..4f26ea5d21d94dc9a24858fd66780325ebb534b3 100644
--- a/common/spl/spl_ymodem.c
+++ b/common/spl/spl_ymodem.c
@@ -40,8 +40,11 @@ int spl_ymodem_load_image(void)
 	if (!ret) {
 		while ((res =
 			xyzModem_stream_read(buf, BUF_SIZE, &err)) > 0) {
-			if (addr == 0)
-				spl_parse_image_header((struct image_header *)buf);
+			if (addr == 0) {
+				ret = spl_parse_image_header((struct image_header *)buf);
+				if (ret)
+					return ret;
+			}
 			store_addr = addr + spl_image.load_addr;
 			size += res;
 			addr += res;
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/spi/spi_spl_load.c b/drivers/mtd/spi/spi_spl_load.c
index ca56fe9015834ed71e7e92d6725c5325505105ad..46c98a9ceead26be3fca6eb8195f2a448fa1fb58 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/spi/spi_spl_load.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/spi/spi_spl_load.c
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 static int spi_load_image_os(struct spi_flash *flash,
 			     struct image_header *header)
 {
+	int err;
+
 	/* Read for a header, parse or error out. */
 	spi_flash_read(flash, CONFIG_SYS_SPI_KERNEL_OFFS, 0x40,
 		       (void *)header);
@@ -30,7 +32,9 @@ static int spi_load_image_os(struct spi_flash *flash,
 	if (image_get_magic(header) != IH_MAGIC)
 		return -1;
 
-	spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	err = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
 
 	spi_flash_read(flash, CONFIG_SYS_SPI_KERNEL_OFFS,
 		       spl_image.size, (void *)spl_image.load_addr);
@@ -81,7 +85,9 @@ int spl_spi_load_image(void)
 		if (err)
 			return err;
 
-		spl_parse_image_header(header);
+		err = spl_parse_image_header(header);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
 		err = spi_flash_read(flash, CONFIG_SYS_SPI_U_BOOT_OFFS,
 			       spl_image.size, (void *)spl_image.load_addr);
 	}
diff --git a/include/spl.h b/include/spl.h
index de4f70a377313bec73e9cee638d67a1ce09b61e4..7edfab46dcd1ea44b039fb2172fe9c17ea173d18 100644
--- a/include/spl.h
+++ b/include/spl.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ void preloader_console_init(void);
 u32 spl_boot_device(void);
 u32 spl_boot_mode(void);
 void spl_set_header_raw_uboot(void);
-void spl_parse_image_header(const struct image_header *header);
+int spl_parse_image_header(const struct image_header *header);
 void spl_board_prepare_for_linux(void);
 void __noreturn jump_to_image_linux(void *arg);
 int spl_start_uboot(void);