diff --git a/libraries/liblber/io.c b/libraries/liblber/io.c
index c05dcf8434..85c3e23e81 100644
--- a/libraries/liblber/io.c
+++ b/libraries/liblber/io.c
@@ -679,7 +679,7 @@ done:
 		return (ber->ber_tag);
 	}
 
-	/* invalid input */
+	assert( 0 ); /* ber structure is messed up ?*/
 	return LBER_DEFAULT;
 }