diff --git a/src/XAO/tests/TestUtils.hxx b/src/XAO/tests/TestUtils.hxx
index 83e343680..137b79588 100644
--- a/src/XAO/tests/TestUtils.hxx
+++ b/src/XAO/tests/TestUtils.hxx
@@ -24,9 +24,11 @@ namespace XAO
             rstr.open(filePath.c_str());
             rstr.seekg(0, rstr.end);        // go to the end
             length = rstr.tellg();          // report location (this is the length)
+            printf("---------------------------VSR: length=%ld\n", length);
             rstr.seekg(0, rstr.beg);        // go back to the beginning
-            char* txt = new char[length];   // allocate memory for a buffer of appropriate dimension
+            char* txt = new char[length+1]; // allocate memory for a buffer of appropriate dimension
             rstr.read(txt, length);         // read the whole file into the buffer
+            txt[length] = '\0';
             rstr.close();
 
             return txt;