diff --git a/src/lib/deflate.cc b/src/lib/deflate.cc
index 1349d487429ed67edcefc5d6e8add7c05f4fbc76..e4754191ed292cdbbd7b8eb87a3688314472f939 100644
--- a/src/lib/deflate.cc
+++ b/src/lib/deflate.cc
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ static int8_t deflate_huffman(uint8_t * ll_lengths, uint16_t ll_size,
 					return DEFLATE_ERR_OUTPUT_LENGTH;
 				}
 				deflate_output_now[0] =
-				    deflate_output_now[-dist_val];
+				    *(deflate_output_now - dist_val);
 				deflate_output_now++;
 			}
 		}