diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 2c85331c..9413b581 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+21 May 2009
+
+* stat(2) files before trying to load them to avoid problems, for example
+  with "source-file /dev/zero".
+
 19 May 2009
 
 * Try to guess if the window is UTF-8 by outputting a three-byte UTF-8 wide
@@ -1282,7 +1287,7 @@
   (including mutt, emacs). No status bar yet and no key remapping or other
   customisation.
 
-$Id: CHANGES,v 1.295 2009-05-19 16:08:35 nicm Exp $
+$Id: CHANGES,v 1.296 2009-05-21 19:38:51 nicm Exp $
 
  LocalWords:  showw utf UTF fulvio ciriaco joshe OSC APC gettime abc DEF OA clr
  LocalWords:  rivo nurges lscm Erdely eol smysession mysession ek dstname RB ms
diff --git a/cfg.c b/cfg.c
index 2a45c393..e0f3f2a3 100644
--- a/cfg.c
+++ b/cfg.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* $Id: cfg.c,v 1.15 2009-03-31 22:23:43 nicm Exp $ */
+/* $Id: cfg.c,v 1.16 2009-05-21 19:38:51 nicm Exp $ */
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2008 Nicholas Marriott <nicm@users.sourceforge.net>
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
@@ -55,11 +56,21 @@ load_cfg(const char *path, char **cause)
 {
 	FILE   	        *f;
 	u_int		 n;
+	struct stat	 sb;
 	char	        *buf, *line, *ptr;
 	size_t		 len;
 	struct cmd_list	*cmdlist;
 	struct cmd_ctx	 ctx;
 
+	if (stat(path, &sb) != 0) {
+		xasprintf(cause, "%s: %s", path, strerror(errno));
+		return (-1);
+	}
+	if (!S_ISREG(sb.st_mode)) {
+		xasprintf(cause, "%s: not a regular file", path);
+		return (-1);
+	}
+
 	if ((f = fopen(path, "rb")) == NULL) {
 		xasprintf(cause, "%s: %s", path, strerror(errno));
 		return (1);
diff --git a/cmd-load-buffer.c b/cmd-load-buffer.c
index fd3387b0..1be567ec 100644
--- a/cmd-load-buffer.c
+++ b/cmd-load-buffer.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* $Id: cmd-load-buffer.c,v 1.3 2009-05-18 16:22:30 nicm Exp $ */
+/* $Id: cmd-load-buffer.c,v 1.4 2009-05-21 19:38:51 nicm Exp $ */
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2009 Tiago Cunha <me@tiagocunha.org>
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ cmd_load_buffer_exec(struct cmd *self, struct cmd_ctx *ctx)
 		ctx->error(ctx, "%s: %s", data->arg, strerror(errno));
 		return (-1);
 	}
+	if (!S_ISREG(statbuf.st_mode)) {
+		ctx->error(ctx, "%s: not a regular file", data->arg);
+		return (-1);
+	}
 
 	if ((f = fopen(data->arg, "rb")) == NULL) {
 		ctx->error(ctx, "%s: %s", data->arg, strerror(errno));