diff --git a/bindings/C/adios2/c/adios2_c_engine.cpp b/bindings/C/adios2/c/adios2_c_engine.cpp
index eddeae5190..2c3addd9a2 100644
--- a/bindings/C/adios2/c/adios2_c_engine.cpp
+++ b/bindings/C/adios2/c/adios2_c_engine.cpp
@@ -724,10 +724,13 @@ adios2_varinfo *adios2_inquire_blockinfo(adios2_engine *engine,
                         memcpy(b[i].Start, minBlocksInfo->BlocksInfo[i].Start,
                                sizeof(size_t) * minBlocksInfo->Dims);
                     }
-                    b[i].Count =
-                        (size_t *)malloc(sizeof(size_t) * minBlocksInfo->Dims);
-                    memcpy(b[i].Count, minBlocksInfo->BlocksInfo[i].Count,
-                           sizeof(size_t) * minBlocksInfo->Dims);
+		    if (minBlocksInfo->BlocksInfo[i].Count)
+		    {
+			b[i].Count =
+			    (size_t *)malloc(sizeof(size_t) * minBlocksInfo->Dims);
+			memcpy(b[i].Count, minBlocksInfo->BlocksInfo[i].Count,
+			       sizeof(size_t) * minBlocksInfo->Dims);
+		    }
                 }
                 if (minBlocksInfo->IsValue)
                 {
diff --git a/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp b/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp
index 5a0f4fc7d9..5c6c2b1514 100644
--- a/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp
+++ b/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp
@@ -1531,6 +1531,8 @@ MinVarInfo *BP5Deserializer::MinBlocksInfo(const VariableBase &Var, size_t Step)
                 Blk.WriterID = WriterRank;
                 Blk.BlockID = Id++;
                 Blk.BufferP = writer_meta_base;
+                Blk.Start = NULL;
+                Blk.Count = NULL;
                 if (VarRec->OrigShapeID == ShapeID::LocalValue)
                 {
                     Blk.Count = (size_t *)1;