diff --git a/lib/openldap.c b/lib/openldap.c
index 1f8737f524..717739b68d 100644
--- a/lib/openldap.c
+++ b/lib/openldap.c
@@ -1171,8 +1171,8 @@ static CURLcode oldap_recv(struct Curl_easy *data, int sockindex, char *buf,
 
         if(!binary) {
           /* check for leading or trailing whitespace */
-          if(ISBLANK(bvals[i].bv_val[0]) ||
-             (bvals[i].bv_len &&
+          if(bvals[i].bv_len &&
+             (ISBLANK(bvals[i].bv_val[0]) ||
               ISBLANK(bvals[i].bv_val[bvals[i].bv_len - 1])))
             binval = TRUE;
           else {