diff --git a/liolib.c b/liolib.c
index 8a9e75cd..027d4bd0 100644
--- a/liolib.c
+++ b/liolib.c
@@ -277,6 +277,8 @@ static int io_popen (lua_State *L) {
   const char *filename = luaL_checkstring(L, 1);
   const char *mode = luaL_optstring(L, 2, "r");
   LStream *p = newprefile(L);
+  luaL_argcheck(L, ((mode[0] == 'r' || mode[0] == 'w') && mode[1] == '\0'),
+                   2, "invalid mode");
   p->f = l_popen(L, filename, mode);
   p->closef = &io_pclose;
   return (p->f == NULL) ? luaL_fileresult(L, 0, filename) : 1;