diff --git a/lib/checkbufferoverrun.cpp b/lib/checkbufferoverrun.cpp
index 17bcc9e94..1e3cf7a9e 100644
--- a/lib/checkbufferoverrun.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkbufferoverrun.cpp
@@ -1233,8 +1233,7 @@ void CheckBufferOverrun::checkGlobalAndLocalVariable()
         const Scope * scope = symbolDatabase->functionScopes[i];
 
         for (const Token *tok = scope->classStart; tok != scope->classEnd; tok = tok->next()) {
-            // if the previous token exists, it must be either a variable name or "[;{}]"
-            if (tok->previous() && !Token::Match(tok->previous(), "%name%|;|{|}"))
+            if (!Token::Match(tok, "[*;{}] %var% ="))
                 continue;
 
             // size : Max array index
diff --git a/test/testbufferoverrun.cpp b/test/testbufferoverrun.cpp
index 2d2a61a3e..f3aae469d 100644
--- a/test/testbufferoverrun.cpp
+++ b/test/testbufferoverrun.cpp
@@ -2985,6 +2985,15 @@ private:
               "}");
         ASSERT_EQUALS("[test.cpp:3]: (error) Array 'tab4[20]' accessed at index 20, which is out of bounds.\n", errout.str());
 
+        // ticket #1478
+        check("void foo() {\n"
+              "    char *p = malloc(10);\n"
+              "    free(p);\n"
+              "    p = malloc(10);\n"
+              "    p[10] = 0;\n"
+              "}");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("[test.cpp:5]: (error) Array 'p[10]' accessed at index 10, which is out of bounds.\n", errout.str());
+
         // ticket #1134
         check("void f() {\n"
               "    int *x, i;\n"