diff --git a/spine-cocos2dx/src/spine/spine-cocos2dx.cpp b/spine-cocos2dx/src/spine/spine-cocos2dx.cpp
index 8d5e1551b..07d5284f7 100644
--- a/spine-cocos2dx/src/spine/spine-cocos2dx.cpp
+++ b/spine-cocos2dx/src/spine/spine-cocos2dx.cpp
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ GLuint filter (spAtlasFilter filter) {
 
 void _spAtlasPage_createTexture (spAtlasPage* self, const char* path) {
 	Texture2D* texture = Director::getInstance()->getTextureCache()->addImage(path);
+	CCASSERT(texture != nullptr, "Invalid image");
 	texture->retain();
 
 	Texture2D::TexParams textureParams = {filter(self->minFilter), filter(self->magFilter), wrap(self->uWrap), wrap(self->vWrap)};
@@ -77,11 +78,12 @@ void _spAtlasPage_disposeTexture (spAtlasPage* self) {
 }
 
 char* _spUtil_readFile (const char* path, int* length) {
-    Data data = FileUtils::getInstance()->getDataFromFile(
-			FileUtils::getInstance()->fullPathForFilename(path));
-    if (data.isNull()) return 0;
-    *length = static_cast<int>(data.getSize());
-    char* bytes = MALLOC(char, *length);
-    memcpy(bytes, data.getBytes(), *length);
-    return bytes;
+	Data data = FileUtils::getInstance()->getDataFromFile(FileUtils::getInstance()->fullPathForFilename(path));
+	if (data.isNull()) return 0;
+
+	// avoid buffer overflow (int is shorter than ssize_t in certain platforms)
+	ssize_t tmpLen;
+	char *ret = (char*)data.takeBuffer(&tmpLen);
+	*length = static_cast<int>(tmpLen);
+	return ret;
 }