diff --git a/src/connections.c b/src/connections.c
index 81ca5c91..c6cb84ce 100644
--- a/src/connections.c
+++ b/src/connections.c
@@ -700,13 +700,7 @@ static int connection_reset(server *srv, connection *con) {
 }
 
 __attribute_noinline__
-static void connection_discard_blank_line(connection *con, const buffer *hdrs, unsigned short *hoff)  {
-    const char * const s = hdrs->ptr + hoff[1];
-  #ifdef __COVERITY__
-    if (buffer_string_length(hdrs) - hoff[1] < 2) {
-        return;
-    }
-  #endif
+static void connection_discard_blank_line(connection *con, const char * const s, unsigned short *hoff)  {
     if ((s[0] == '\r' && s[1] == '\n')
         || (s[0] == '\n'
             && !(con->conf.http_parseopts & HTTP_PARSEOPT_HEADER_STRICT))) {
@@ -823,7 +817,13 @@ static int connection_handle_read_state(server * const srv, connection * const c
 
     if (NULL == c) return 0; /* incomplete request headers */
 
-    buffer * const hdrs = c->mem;
+  #ifdef __COVERITY__
+    if (buffer_string_length(c->mem) < hoff[1]) {
+        return 1;
+    }
+  #endif
+
+    char * const hdrs = c->mem->ptr + hoff[1];
 
     if (con->request_count > 1) {
         /* skip past \r\n or \n after previous POST request when keep-alive */
@@ -841,7 +841,7 @@ static int connection_handle_read_state(server * const srv, connection * const c
     if (con->conf.log_request_header) {
         log_error(con->errh, __FILE__, __LINE__,
                   "fd: %d request-len: %zu\n%.*s", con->fd, con->header_len,
-                  (int)con->header_len, hdrs->ptr + hoff[1]);
+                  (int)con->header_len, hdrs);
     }
 
     con->http_status = http_request_parse(con, hdrs, hoff);
@@ -853,7 +853,7 @@ static int connection_handle_read_state(server * const srv, connection * const c
             /*(http_request_parse() modifies hdrs only to
              * undo line-wrapping in-place using spaces)*/
             log_error(con->errh, __FILE__, __LINE__, "request-header:\n%.*s",
-                      (int)con->header_len, hdrs->ptr + hoff[1]);
+                      (int)con->header_len, hdrs);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/request.c b/src/request.c
index ac17b8b2..862f8c6d 100644
--- a/src/request.c
+++ b/src/request.c
@@ -794,20 +794,19 @@ static int http_request_parse_headers(connection *con, char * const ptr, const u
     return 0;
 }
 
-int http_request_parse(connection * const con, buffer * const hdrs, const unsigned short * const hoff) {
+int http_request_parse(connection * const con, char * const hdrs, const unsigned short * const hoff) {
     /*
      * Request: "^(GET|POST|HEAD|...) ([^ ]+(\\?[^ ]+|)) (HTTP/1\\.[01])$"
      * Header : "^([-a-zA-Z]+): (.+)$"
      * End    : "^$"
      */
 
-    char * const ptr = hdrs->ptr+hoff[1];
     int status;
 
-    status = http_request_parse_reqline(con, ptr, hoff);
+    status = http_request_parse_reqline(con, hdrs, hoff);
     if (0 != status) return status;
 
-    status = http_request_parse_headers(con, ptr, hoff);
+    status = http_request_parse_headers(con, hdrs, hoff);
     if (0 != status) return status;
 
     /* post-processing */
diff --git a/src/request.h b/src/request.h
index c600a5a5..84503d9e 100644
--- a/src/request.h
+++ b/src/request.h
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #include "base_decls.h"
 #include "buffer.h"
 
-int http_request_parse(connection *con, buffer *hdrs, const unsigned short *hloffsets);
+int http_request_parse(connection *con, char *hdrs, const unsigned short *hloffsets);
 int http_request_host_normalize(buffer *b, int scheme_port);
 int http_request_host_policy(connection *con, buffer *b, const buffer *scheme);
 
diff --git a/src/t/test_request.c b/src/t/test_request.c
index 23915e44..25795531 100644
--- a/src/t/test_request.c
+++ b/src/t/test_request.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ static void run_http_request_parse(connection *con, int line, int status, const
         hloffsets[hloffsets[0]] = n - req + 1;
     }
     --hloffsets[0]; /*(ignore final blank line "\r\n" ending headers)*/
-    int http_status = http_request_parse(con, hdrs, hloffsets);
+    int http_status = http_request_parse(con, hdrs->ptr, hloffsets);
     if (http_status != status) {
         fprintf(stderr,
                 "%s.%d: %s() failed: expected '%d', got '%d' for test %s\n",