diff --git a/banned-die.h b/banned-die.h
index 589e9cc2bd..bf16ec5ba9 100644
--- a/banned-die.h
+++ b/banned-die.h
@@ -14,4 +14,7 @@
 #undef xsnprintf
 #define xsnprintf(...) BANNED(xsnprintf)
 
+#undef xstrdup
+#define xstrdup(str) BANNED(xstrdup)
+
 #endif /* BANNED_DIE_H */
diff --git a/trace2/tr2_sysenv.c b/trace2/tr2_sysenv.c
index 7fa58eba91..4a9983caf4 100644
--- a/trace2/tr2_sysenv.c
+++ b/trace2/tr2_sysenv.c
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ static int tr2_sysenv_cb(const char *key, const char *value,
 			if (!value)
 				return config_error_nonbool(key);
 			free(tr2_sysenv_settings[k].value);
-			tr2_sysenv_settings[k].value = xstrdup(value);
+			tr2_sysenv_settings[k].value = strdup(value);
+			if (!tr2_sysenv_settings[k].value)
+				return 0;
 			return 0;
 		}
 	}
@@ -111,7 +113,7 @@ const char *tr2_sysenv_get(enum tr2_sysenv_variable var)
 		const char *v = getenv(tr2_sysenv_settings[var].env_var_name);
 		if (v && *v) {
 			free(tr2_sysenv_settings[var].value);
-			tr2_sysenv_settings[var].value = xstrdup(v);
+			tr2_sysenv_settings[var].value = strdup(v);
 		}
 		tr2_sysenv_settings[var].getenv_called = 1;
 	}