diff --git a/libfdt/fdt_overlay.c b/libfdt/fdt_overlay.c
index 8b715d6..531294c 100644
--- a/libfdt/fdt_overlay.c
+++ b/libfdt/fdt_overlay.c
@@ -548,11 +548,11 @@
 static int overlay_fixup_phandle(void *fdt, void *fdto, int symbols_off,
 				int property, int fixups_off, int merge)
 {
-	const char *value;
+	const char *value, *total_value;
 	const char *label;
-	int len, ret = 0;
+	int len, total_len, ret = 0;
 
-	value = fdt_getprop_by_offset(fdto, property,
+	total_value = value = fdt_getprop_by_offset(fdto, property,
 				      &label, &len);
 	if (!value) {
 		if (len == -FDT_ERR_NOTFOUND)
@@ -561,6 +561,8 @@
 		return len;
 	}
 
+	total_len = len;
+
 	do {
 		const char *path, *name, *fixup_end;
 		const char *fixup_str = value;
@@ -631,7 +633,7 @@
 	 * during a subsequent overlay of combined blob on a base blob.
 	 */
 	if (merge) {
-		ret = overlay_add_to_local_fixups(fdt, value, len);
+		ret = overlay_add_to_local_fixups(fdt, total_value, total_len);
 		if (!ret)
 			ret = fdt_delprop(fdto, fixups_off, label);
 	}