diff --git a/cifti/CMakeLists.txt b/cifti/CMakeLists.txt
index ef43a4e4..405d87d8 100644
--- a/cifti/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cifti/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -51,6 +51,26 @@ if(NIFTI_BUILD_TESTING AND NIFTI_BUILD_APPLICATIONS)
             PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "<MapName>demo</MapName>"
                        FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "no CIFTI extension" )
 
+  # A read failure must be reported, not taken for the end of the document.
+  # The input is a directory, which opens on POSIX and fails at the first
+  # read; Windows refuses the open instead, so there is no read to fail.
+  if( NOT WIN32 )
+    add_test( NAME ${TEST_PREFIX}_xml_read_error
+              COMMAND $<TARGET_FILE:${NIFTI_PACKAGE_PREFIX}afni_xml_tool>
+                      -input ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/testdata )
+    set_tests_properties( ${TEST_PREFIX}_xml_read_error
+              PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "failed to read XML file" )
+  endif()
+
+  # A readable document must still parse, and must not report a read error.
+  add_test( NAME ${TEST_PREFIX}_xml_read_ok
+            COMMAND $<TARGET_FILE:${NIFTI_PACKAGE_PREFIX}afni_xml_tool>
+                    -input ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/testdata/mim_known_child.xml
+                    -verb 2 )
+  set_tests_properties( ${TEST_PREFIX}_xml_read_ok
+            PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "xlist read"
+                       FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "failed to read XML file" )
+
   # An extension payload that fills esize-8 with no NUL must not be read
   # past its end; the regex pins that the payload is still parsed.
   add_test( NAME ${TEST_PREFIX}_tool_unterminated_cext
diff --git a/cifti/afni_xml.c b/cifti/afni_xml.c
index 5a92738a..8e55a485 100644
--- a/cifti/afni_xml.c
+++ b/cifti/afni_xml.c
@@ -197,6 +197,10 @@ afni_xml_list axml_read_file(const char * fname, int read_data)
       if( reset_xml_buf(xd, &buf, &bsize) ) break;
 
       blen = (unsigned)fread(buf, 1, (size_t)bsize, fp);
+      if( ferror(fp) ) {
+         fprintf(stderr,"** failed to read XML file '%s'\n", fname);
+         break;
+      }
 
       /* check for early termination */
       bshort = loc_strnlen(buf, blen);
@@ -207,7 +211,9 @@ afni_xml_list axml_read_file(const char * fname, int read_data)
          blen = (unsigned)bshort;
       }
 
-      done = blen < (unsigned)  bsize;
+      /* feof() also stops a file ending exactly on a buffer boundary,
+         sparing a final read that can only return zero */
+      done = blen < (unsigned)  bsize || feof(fp);
 
       if(xd->verb > 4) fprintf(stderr,"-- XML_Parse # %d\n", pcount);
       pcount++;