diff --git a/dlls/kernel32/profile.c b/dlls/kernel32/profile.c
index 9b6b1a1..e52cd66 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel32/profile.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel32/profile.c
@@ -1114,9 +1114,10 @@ static int PROFILE_GetPrivateProfileString( LPCWSTR section, LPCWSTR entry,
     } else if (buffer && def_val) {
        lstrcpynW( buffer, def_val, len );
        ret = strlenW( buffer );
-    }
-    else
+    } else {
+       buffer[0] = 0; /* buffer must be a null terminated empty string */
        ret = 0;
+    }
 
     RtlLeaveCriticalSection( &PROFILE_CritSect );
 
diff --git a/dlls/kernel32/tests/profile.c b/dlls/kernel32/tests/profile.c
index cddc9a0..2f0ff13 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel32/tests/profile.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel32/tests/profile.c
@@ -338,11 +338,17 @@ static void test_profile_existing(void)
                        OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
         ok(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE != h, "%d: CreateFile failed\n",i);
         SetLastError(0xdeadbeef);
+        /* Fill the buffer with non-zero values so we can test if the
+           result is properly null terminated */
+        memset(buffer, 0xff, sizeof(buffer));
         ret = GetPrivateProfileStringA(SECTION, KEY, NULL, buffer, MAX_PATH, testfile2);
         if (!pe[i].read_error)
             ok( ret, "%d: GetPrivateProfileString failed with error %u\n", i, GetLastError() );
         else
+        {
             ok( !ret, "%d: GetPrivateProfileString succeeded\n", i );
+            ok( buffer[ret] == 0, "Get GetPrivateProfileString should terminate buffer with null\n" );
+        }
         CloseHandle(h);
     }
     ok( DeleteFile(testfile2), "delete failed\n" );