diff --git a/src/examples/https_fileserver_example.c b/src/examples/https_fileserver_example.c
index c07e274a..6fb1d9d8 100644
--- a/src/examples/https_fileserver_example.c
+++ b/src/examples/https_fileserver_example.c
@@ -131,7 +131,11 @@ http_ahc (void *cls,
     }
   *ptr = NULL;                  /* reset when done */
 
-  file = fopen (&url[1], "rb");
+  if ( (0 == stat (url, &buf)) &&
+       (S_ISREG (buf.st_mode)) )
+    file = fopen (&url[1], "rb");
+  else
+    file = NULL;
   if (file == NULL)
     {
       response = MHD_create_response_from_data (strlen (EMPTY_PAGE),
@@ -142,11 +146,15 @@ http_ahc (void *cls,
     }
   else
     {
-      stat (url, &buf);
       response = MHD_create_response_from_callback (buf.st_size, 32 * 1024,     /* 32k PAGE_NOT_FOUND size */
                                                     &file_reader, file,
                                                     (MHD_ContentReaderFreeCallback)
                                                     & fclose);
+      if (response == NULL)
+	{
+	  fclose (file);
+	  return MHD_NO;
+	}
       ret = MHD_queue_response (connection, MHD_HTTP_OK, response);
       MHD_destroy_response (response);
     }