diff --git a/pdf.c b/pdf.c
index 4208524b97bd3c32a525620496c0064c49ffbe42..35fcc9258267353dde66fffabe3dae7cec060c53 100644
--- a/pdf.c
+++ b/pdf.c
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ parse_xrefs(const char *input, size_t sz, size_t *nxrefs)
 
 		/* save this section in xrefs */
 		if (n >= SIZE_MAX / sizeof(HParsedToken *))
-			errc(1, EOVERFLOW, "overflow");
+			errx(1, "realloc: size would overflow");
 		xrefs = realloc(xrefs, (n + 1) * sizeof(HParsedToken *));
 		if (xrefs == NULL)
 			err(1, "realloc");