diff --git a/common/image.c b/common/image.c
index 985127f8ea..3d159945d3 100644
--- a/common/image.c
+++ b/common/image.c
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ ulong image_multi_count(const image_header_t *hdr)
 	size = (uint32_t *)image_get_data(hdr);
 
 	/* count non empty slots */
-	for (i = 0; size[i]; ++i)
+	for (i = 0; size[i] != IMAGE_PARAM_INVAL; ++i)
 		count++;
 
 	return count;
diff --git a/include/image.h b/include/image.h
index c0e6b1a727..56bd0dade0 100644
--- a/include/image.h
+++ b/include/image.h
@@ -709,6 +709,8 @@ int boot_get_kbd(struct lmb *lmb, bd_t **kbd);
 /*******************************************************************/
 /* Legacy format specific code (prefixed with image_) */
 /*******************************************************************/
+#define IMAGE_PARAM_INVAL	0xffffffff
+
 static inline uint32_t image_get_header_size(void)
 {
 	return (sizeof(image_header_t));
diff --git a/tools/mkimage.c b/tools/mkimage.c
index ffc91d2319..a13d86f0aa 100644
--- a/tools/mkimage.c
+++ b/tools/mkimage.c
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 					}
 					size = cpu_to_uimage (sbuf.st_size);
 				} else {
-					size = 0;
+					size = IMAGE_PARAM_INVAL;
 				}
 
 				if (write(ifd, (char *)&size, sizeof(size)) != sizeof(size)) {
@@ -650,6 +650,11 @@ copy_file (int ifd, const char *datafile, int pad)
 		exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}
 
+	if (sbuf.st_size == 0) {
+		(void) close (dfd);
+		return;
+	}
+
 	ptr = mmap(0, sbuf.st_size, PROT_READ, MAP_SHARED, dfd, 0);
 	if (ptr == MAP_FAILED) {
 		fprintf (stderr, "%s: Can't read %s: %s\n",