diff --git a/glib/gprintf.c b/glib/gprintf.c
index a0ccef9ab..19642d82b 100644
--- a/glib/gprintf.c
+++ b/glib/gprintf.c
@@ -359,19 +359,29 @@ g_vasprintf (gchar      **string,
 
   {
     va_list args2;
+    char c;
+    int max_len;
 
     va_copy (args2, args);
 
-    *string = g_new (gchar, g_printf_string_upper_bound (format, args));
+    max_len = _g_vsnprintf (&c, 1, format, args);
+    if (max_len < 0)
+      {
+        /* This can happen if @format contains `%ls` or `%lc` and @args contains
+         * something not representable in the current locale’s encoding (which
+         * should be UTF-8, but ymmv). Basically: don’t use `%ls` or `%lc`. */
+        va_end (args2);
+        *string = NULL;
+        return -1;
+      }
+
+    *string = g_new (gchar, (size_t) max_len + 1);
 
     len = _g_vsprintf (*string, format, args2);
     va_end (args2);
 
-    if (len < 0)
-      {
-        g_free (*string);
-        *string = NULL;
-      }
+    /* _g_vsprintf() should have exactly the same failure modes as _g_vsnprintf() */
+    g_assert (len >= 0);
   }
 #endif
 
diff --git a/glib/tests/test-printf.c b/glib/tests/test-printf.c
index faec8e110..432685e3f 100644
--- a/glib/tests/test-printf.c
+++ b/glib/tests/test-printf.c
@@ -948,6 +948,30 @@ test_vasprintf_invalid_format_placeholder (void)
 #endif
 }
 
+static void
+test_vasprintf_invalid_wide_string (void)
+{
+#if !defined(__APPLE__) && !defined(__FreeBSD__)
+  gint len = 0;
+  gchar *buf = "some non-null string";
+#endif
+
+  g_test_summary ("Test error handling for invalid wide strings in g_vasprintf()");
+
+#if !defined(__APPLE__) && !defined(__FreeBSD__)
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wformat"
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wformat-extra-args"
+  len = test_vasprintf_va (&buf, "%ls", L"\xD800"  /* incomplete surrogate pair */);
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+
+  g_assert_cmpint (len, ==, -1);
+  g_assert_null (buf);
+#else
+  g_test_skip ("vasprintf() placeholder checks on BSDs are less strict");
+#endif
+}
+
 int
 main (int   argc,
       char *argv[])
@@ -989,6 +1013,7 @@ main (int   argc,
   g_test_add_func ("/sprintf/upper-bound", test_upper_bound);
 
   g_test_add_func ("/vasprintf/invalid-format-placeholder", test_vasprintf_invalid_format_placeholder);
+  g_test_add_func ("/vasprintf/invalid-wide-string", test_vasprintf_invalid_wide_string);
 
   return g_test_run();
 }