diff --git a/fuzz/api.c b/fuzz/api.c
index ba738db4..9e47f5eb 100644
--- a/fuzz/api.c
+++ b/fuzz/api.c
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@
 #ifndef XML_DEPRECATED
   #define XML_DEPRECATED
 #endif
+#ifndef XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER
+  #define XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER
+#endif
 
 #include <libxml/catalog.h>
 #include <libxml/HTMLtree.h>
@@ -2649,7 +2652,7 @@ LLVMFuzzerTestOneInput(const char *data, size_t size) {
                     oomReport = 0;
                 /*
                  * Don't reference XML_ELEMENT_TYPE_UNDEFINED dummy
-                 * declarations.
+                 * declarations which can be freed by xmlAddElementDecl.
                  */
                 if (elem != NULL && elem->parent == NULL)
                     elem = NULL;
diff --git a/valid.c b/valid.c
index 3ea9f87c..97a424f5 100644
--- a/valid.c
+++ b/valid.c
@@ -1101,12 +1101,9 @@ xmlAddElementDecl(xmlValidCtxt *ctxt,
     const xmlChar *localName;
     xmlChar *prefix = NULL;
 
-    if (dtd == NULL) {
+    if ((dtd == NULL) || (name == NULL) ||
+        (type < XML_ELEMENT_TYPE_EMPTY) || (type > XML_ELEMENT_TYPE_ELEMENT))
 	return(NULL);
-    }
-    if (name == NULL) {
-	return(NULL);
-    }
 
     /*
      * check if name is a QName