diff --git a/tccgen.c b/tccgen.c
index e488c65..6aead92 100644
--- a/tccgen.c
+++ b/tccgen.c
@@ -3174,6 +3174,8 @@ static void post_type(CType *type, AttributeDef *ad)
                 if (n < 0)
                     error("invalid array size");
             } else {
+                if (cur_text_section == NULL)
+                    error("variable length array declared outside of any function");
                 if (!is_integer_btype(vtop->type.t & VT_BTYPE))
                     error("size of variable length array should be an integer");
                 t1 = VT_VLA;