diff --git a/ggml/src/gguf.cpp b/ggml/src/gguf.cpp
index 9f9e4fe5d..6c7b58178 100644
--- a/ggml/src/gguf.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/gguf.cpp
@@ -611,6 +611,13 @@ static struct gguf_context * gguf_init_from_reader(const struct gguf_reader & gr
         GGML_ASSERT(int64_t(ctx->kv.size()) == n_kv);
 
         const int alignment_idx = gguf_find_key(ctx, GGUF_KEY_GENERAL_ALIGNMENT);
+        if (alignment_idx != -1 && gguf_get_kv_type(ctx, alignment_idx) != GGUF_TYPE_UINT32) {
+            GGML_LOG_ERROR("%s: key '%s' must be of type %s but is %s\n",
+                __func__, GGUF_KEY_GENERAL_ALIGNMENT, gguf_type_name(GGUF_TYPE_UINT32),
+                gguf_type_name(gguf_get_kv_type(ctx, alignment_idx)));
+            gguf_free(ctx);
+            return nullptr;
+        }
         ctx->alignment = alignment_idx == -1 ? GGUF_DEFAULT_ALIGNMENT : gguf_get_val_u32(ctx, alignment_idx);
 
         if (ctx->alignment == 0 || (ctx->alignment & (ctx->alignment - 1)) != 0) {
@@ -682,9 +689,11 @@ static struct gguf_context * gguf_init_from_reader(const struct gguf_reader & gr
             }
 
             // check that the total number of elements is representable
-            if (ok && ((INT64_MAX/info.t.ne[1] <= info.t.ne[0]) ||
-                       (INT64_MAX/info.t.ne[2] <= info.t.ne[0]*info.t.ne[1]) ||
-                       (INT64_MAX/info.t.ne[3] <= info.t.ne[0]*info.t.ne[1]*info.t.ne[2]))) {
+            // (a zero-element tensor is trivially representable; the guard also avoids a division by zero below)
+            if (ok && ggml_nelements(&info.t) > 0 &&
+                ((INT64_MAX/info.t.ne[1] <= info.t.ne[0]) ||
+                 (INT64_MAX/info.t.ne[2] <= info.t.ne[0]*info.t.ne[1]) ||
+                 (INT64_MAX/info.t.ne[3] <= info.t.ne[0]*info.t.ne[1]*info.t.ne[2]))) {
 
                 GGML_LOG_ERROR("%s: total number of elements in tensor '%s' with shape "
                     "(%" PRIi64 ", %" PRIi64 ", %" PRIi64 ", %" PRIi64 ") is >= %" PRIi64 "\n",