diff --git a/src/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.c b/src/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.c
index f91e608..b881d4b 100644
--- a/src/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.c
+++ b/src/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.c
@@ -442,11 +442,18 @@ loadAuthKey(ngx_conf_t *cf, ngx_http_auth_jwt_loc_conf_t* conf) {
 	}
 
 	conf->_auth_jwt_keyfile.data = ngx_palloc(cf->pool, keySize);
-	fread(conf->_auth_jwt_keyfile.data, 1, keySize, keyFile);
-	conf->_auth_jwt_keyfile.len = (int)keySize;
 
-	fclose(keyFile);
-	return NGX_OK;
+	if(fread(conf->_auth_jwt_keyfile.data, 1, keySize, keyFile)) {
+		conf->_auth_jwt_keyfile.len = (int)keySize;
+		fclose(keyFile);
+		return NGX_OK;
+
+	} else {
+
+		return NGX_ERROR;
+
+	}
+	
 }
 
 static char *