diff --git a/cdoc/CDoc1Reader.cpp b/cdoc/CDoc1Reader.cpp
index cb724f0d..321d7164 100644
--- a/cdoc/CDoc1Reader.cpp
+++ b/cdoc/CDoc1Reader.cpp
@@ -357,6 +357,8 @@ CDoc1Reader::CDoc1Reader(libcdoc::DataSource *src, bool delete_on_close)
 			}
 		}
 	}
+    if(reader.hasError())
+        setLastError("Cannot parse container");
 }
 
 CDoc1Reader::~CDoc1Reader() noexcept
diff --git a/cdoc/XmlReader.cpp b/cdoc/XmlReader.cpp
index 1fc8a382..db84d17b 100644
--- a/cdoc/XmlReader.cpp
+++ b/cdoc/XmlReader.cpp
@@ -80,12 +80,19 @@ bool XMLReader::isElement(const char *elem) const
 bool XMLReader::read()
 {
     if (!d) return false;
-    if (xmlTextReaderRead(d) != 1)
+    if (int result = xmlTextReaderRead(d); result != 1)
+    {
+        error = result < 0;
+        if (error)
+            LOG_ERROR("XMLReader: failed to parse document");
         return false;
+    }
     switch(xmlTextReaderNodeType(d))
     {
     case XML_READER_TYPE_DOCUMENT_TYPE:
     case XML_READER_TYPE_ENTITY_REFERENCE:
+        error = true;
+        LOG_ERROR("XMLReader: document type declaration or entity reference is not allowed");
         return false;
     default:
         return true;
diff --git a/cdoc/XmlReader.h b/cdoc/XmlReader.h
index cccbe488..c04532f0 100644
--- a/cdoc/XmlReader.h
+++ b/cdoc/XmlReader.h
@@ -40,9 +40,11 @@ class XMLReader
 	bool read();
 	std::vector<uint8_t> readBase64();
 	std::string readText();
+    bool hasError() const { return error; }
 
 private:
     _xmlTextReader *d;
+    bool error = false;
 };
 
 } // namespace libcdoc