diff --git a/include/libwebsockets/lws-http.h b/include/libwebsockets/lws-http.h
index 41628da48..82bda9ed6 100644
--- a/include/libwebsockets/lws-http.h
+++ b/include/libwebsockets/lws-http.h
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ lws_hdr_copy(struct lws *wsi, char *dest, int len, enum lws_token_indexes h);
 /**
  * lws_hdr_copy_fragment() - copy a single fragment of the given header to a buffer
  *		The buffer length len must include space for an additional
- *		terminating '\0', or it will fail returning -1.
+ *		terminating '\0', or it will fail returning -2.
  *		If the requested fragment index is not present, it fails
  *		returning -1.
  *
diff --git a/lib/core-net/wsi.c b/lib/core-net/wsi.c
index ce8c5294c..b4a17ce32 100644
--- a/lib/core-net/wsi.c
+++ b/lib/core-net/wsi.c
@@ -746,10 +746,11 @@ lws_get_urlarg_by_name_safe(struct lws *wsi, const char *name, char *buf, int le
 		fraglen = lws_hdr_copy_fragment(wsi, buf, len,
 						WSI_TOKEN_HTTP_URI_ARGS, n);
 
-		if (fraglen < 0)
+		if (fraglen == -1) /* no fragment or basic problem */
 			break;
 
-		if (fraglen + 1 < len &&
+		if (fraglen > 0 && /* fragment could fit */
+		    fraglen + 1 < len &&
 		    fraglen >= sl &&
 		    !strncmp(buf, name, (size_t)sl)) {
 			/*
diff --git a/lib/roles/http/parsers.c b/lib/roles/http/parsers.c
index 220f9cf82..717390151 100644
--- a/lib/roles/http/parsers.c
+++ b/lib/roles/http/parsers.c
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ int lws_hdr_copy_fragment(struct lws *wsi, char *dst, int len,
 	}
 
 	if (wsi->http.ah->frags[f].len >= len)
-		return -1;
+		return -2;
 
 	memcpy(dst, wsi->http.ah->data + wsi->http.ah->frags[f].offset,
 	       wsi->http.ah->frags[f].len);