diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9376129e1..866903664 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@
    - deraadt@cvs.openbsd.org 2001/07/09 07:04:53
      [session.c sftp-int.c]
      correct type on last arg to execl(); nordin@cse.ogi.edu
+   - markus@cvs.openbsd.org 2001/07/10 21:49:12
+     [readpass.c]
+     don't panic if fork or pipe fail (just return an empty passwd).
 
 20010711
  - (djm) dirname(3) may modify its argument on glibc and other systems. 
@@ -6006,4 +6009,4 @@
  - Wrote replacements for strlcpy and mkdtemp
  - Released 1.0pre1
 
-$Id: ChangeLog,v 1.1394 2001/07/14 02:19:36 djm Exp $
+$Id: ChangeLog,v 1.1395 2001/07/14 02:19:56 djm Exp $
diff --git a/readpass.c b/readpass.c
index 4eeeed917..3724eeab1 100644
--- a/readpass.c
+++ b/readpass.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "includes.h"
-RCSID("$OpenBSD: readpass.c,v 1.20 2001/07/02 22:29:20 markus Exp $");
+RCSID("$OpenBSD: readpass.c,v 1.21 2001/07/10 21:49:12 markus Exp $");
 
 #include "xmalloc.h"
 #include "readpass.h"
@@ -54,10 +54,14 @@ ssh_askpass(char *askpass, const char *msg)
 		error("ssh_askpass: fflush: %s", strerror(errno));
 	if (askpass == NULL)
 		fatal("internal error: askpass undefined");
-	if (pipe(p) < 0)
-		fatal("ssh_askpass: pipe: %s", strerror(errno));
-	if ((pid = fork()) < 0)
-		fatal("ssh_askpass: fork: %s", strerror(errno));
+	if (pipe(p) < 0) {
+		error("ssh_askpass: pipe: %s", strerror(errno));
+		return xstrdup("");
+	}
+	if ((pid = fork()) < 0) {
+		error("ssh_askpass: fork: %s", strerror(errno));
+		return xstrdup("");
+	}
 	if (pid == 0) {
 		seteuid(getuid());
 		setuid(getuid());