diff --git a/lib/decompress_bunzip2.c b/lib/decompress_bunzip2.c
index 3518e7394eca..ca736166f100 100644
--- a/lib/decompress_bunzip2.c
+++ b/lib/decompress_bunzip2.c
@@ -232,7 +232,8 @@ static int INIT get_next_block(struct bunzip_data *bd)
 	   RUNB) */
 	symCount = symTotal+2;
 	for (j = 0; j < groupCount; j++) {
-		unsigned char length[MAX_SYMBOLS], temp[MAX_HUFCODE_BITS+1];
+		unsigned char length[MAX_SYMBOLS];
+		unsigned short temp[MAX_HUFCODE_BITS+1];
 		int	minLen,	maxLen, pp;
 		/* Read Huffman code lengths for each symbol.  They're
 		   stored in a way similar to mtf; record a starting