diff --git a/src/cudecomp.cc b/src/cudecomp.cc
index 1da8bf8..9f3f3c6 100644
--- a/src/cudecomp.cc
+++ b/src/cudecomp.cc
@@ -240,7 +240,9 @@ static void checkConfig(cudecompHandle_t handle, const cudecompGridDescConfig_t*
   if (!autotune_halos) { checkHaloCommBackend(config->halo_comm_backend); }
   checkRankOrder(config->rank_order);
 
-  int pdims_prod = config->pdims[0] * config->pdims[1];
+  if (config->pdims[0] < 0 || config->pdims[1] < 0) { THROW_INVALID_USAGE("pdims values are invalid"); }
+
+  int64_t pdims_prod = static_cast<int64_t>(config->pdims[0]) * config->pdims[1];
   if (pdims_prod == 0) {
     if (config->pdims[0] != 0 || config->pdims[1] != 0) { THROW_INVALID_USAGE("pdims values are invalid"); }
   } else if (pdims_prod != handle->nranks) {
diff --git a/tests/ctest/api_tests.cc b/tests/ctest/api_tests.cc
index 3f04e8d..32cae83 100644
--- a/tests/ctest/api_tests.cc
+++ b/tests/ctest/api_tests.cc
@@ -863,6 +863,11 @@ TEST_F(ApiGridDescCreateTest, RejectsInvalidConfigs) {
   config.pdims[1] = 1;
   expectGridDescCreateInvalid(config);
 
+  config = distributedConfig();
+  config.pdims[0] = -2;
+  config.pdims[1] = -2;
+  expectGridDescCreateInvalid(config);
+
   config = distributedConfig();
   config.rank_order = static_cast<cudecompRankOrder_t>(999);
   expectGridDescCreateInvalid(config);