diff --git a/src/codecs/doctermscodec.cpp b/src/codecs/doctermscodec.cpp
--- a/src/codecs/doctermscodec.cpp
+++ b/src/codecs/doctermscodec.cpp
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@
     int prevWordBoundary = 0;
     for (int i = 0; i < full.size(); i++) {
         if (full[i] == 1) {
+            if (list.isEmpty()) {
+                // corrupted entry - no way to recover
+                return list;
+            }
+
             QByteArray arr(full.constData() + prevWordBoundary, i - prevWordBoundary);
 
             list << list.last() + arr;
diff --git a/src/engine/documentdb.cpp b/src/engine/documentdb.cpp
--- a/src/engine/documentdb.cpp
+++ b/src/engine/documentdb.cpp
@@ -96,7 +96,11 @@
     QByteArray arr = QByteArray::fromRawData(static_cast<char*>(val.mv_data), val.mv_size);
 
     DocTermsCodec codec;
-    return codec.decode(arr);
+    auto result = codec.decode(arr);
+    if (result.isEmpty()) {
+        qDebug() << "Document Terms DB contains corrupt data for " << docId;
+    }
+    return result;
 }
 
 void DocumentDB::del(quint64 docId)