diff --git a/package/gluon-web/src/template_lualib.c b/package/gluon-web/src/template_lualib.c
index ac93ab68..4af2f777 100644
--- a/package/gluon-web/src/template_lualib.c
+++ b/package/gluon-web/src/template_lualib.c
@@ -75,19 +75,16 @@ static int template_L_parse_string(lua_State *L)
 
 static int template_L_pcdata(lua_State *L)
 {
-	size_t len = 0, outlen;
-	const char *str = luaL_checklstring(L, 1, &len);
-	char *res = pcdata(str, len, &outlen);
+	size_t inlen, outlen;
+	char *out;
+	const char *in = luaL_checklstring(L, 1, &inlen);
+	if (!pcdata(in, inlen, &out, &outlen))
+		return 0;
 
-	if (res != NULL)
-	{
-		lua_pushlstring(L, res, outlen);
-		free(res);
+	lua_pushlstring(L, out, outlen);
+	free(out);
 
-		return 1;
-	}
-
-	return 0;
+	return 1;
 }
 
 static int template_L_load_catalog(lua_State *L) {
diff --git a/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.c b/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.c
index 8a4cecfe..f8ea276f 100644
--- a/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.c
+++ b/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.c
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ static size_t validate_utf8(const unsigned char **s, size_t l, struct template_b
 /* Sanitize given string and strip all invalid XML bytes
  * Validate UTF-8 sequences
  * Escape XML control chars */
-char * pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, size_t *outl)
+bool pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, char **out, size_t *outl)
 {
 	struct template_buffer *buf = buf_init(l);
 	const unsigned char *ptr = (const unsigned char *)s;
@@ -265,15 +265,14 @@ char * pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, size_t *outl)
 	int esl;
 
 	if (!buf)
-		return NULL;
+		return false;
 
 	for (o = 0; o < l; o++)	{
 		/* Invalid XML bytes */
 		if ((*ptr <= 0x08) ||
 		    ((*ptr >= 0x0B) && (*ptr <= 0x0C)) ||
 		    ((*ptr >= 0x0E) && (*ptr <= 0x1F)) ||
-		    (*ptr == 0x7F))
-		{
+		    (*ptr == 0x7F)) {
 			ptr++;
 		}
 
@@ -282,8 +281,7 @@ char * pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, size_t *outl)
 		         (*ptr == '"') ||
 		         (*ptr == '&') ||
 		         (*ptr == '<') ||
-		         (*ptr == '>'))
-		{
+		         (*ptr == '>')) {
 			esl = snprintf(esq, sizeof(esq), "&#%i;", *ptr);
 
 			if (!buf_append(buf, esq, esl))
@@ -293,14 +291,12 @@ char * pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, size_t *outl)
 		}
 
 		/* ascii char */
-		else if (*ptr <= 0x7F)
-		{
+		else if (*ptr <= 0x7F) {
 			buf_putchar(buf, (char)*ptr++);
 		}
 
 		/* multi byte sequence */
-		else
-		{
+		else {
 			if (!(v = validate_utf8(&ptr, l - o, buf)))
 				break;
 
@@ -309,5 +305,6 @@ char * pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, size_t *outl)
 	}
 
 	*outl = buf_length(buf);
-	return buf_destroy(buf);
+	*out = buf_destroy(buf);
+	return true;
 }
diff --git a/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.h b/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.h
index 35bf706d..6dc18414 100644
--- a/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.h
+++ b/package/gluon-web/src/template_utils.h
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ static inline size_t buf_length(const struct template_buffer *buf)
 	return buf->dptr - buf->data;
 }
 
-
-char * pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, size_t *outl);
+bool pcdata(const char *s, size_t l, char **out, size_t *outl);
 
 #endif