diff --git a/crates/engine_bibtex/src/xbuf.rs b/crates/engine_bibtex/src/xbuf.rs
index 8f3949e7..c216eb4d 100644
--- a/crates/engine_bibtex/src/xbuf.rs
+++ b/crates/engine_bibtex/src/xbuf.rs
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ pub unsafe fn xrealloc_zeroed<T: SafelyZero>(
     old: *mut [T],
     new_len: usize,
 ) -> Option<&'static mut [T]> {
-    let old_len = (*old).len();
+    let old_len = (&(*old)).len();
     let new_size = new_len * mem::size_of::<T>();
     // SAFETY: realloc can be called with any size, even 0, that will just deallocate and return null
     let ptr = unsafe { xrealloc(old.cast(), new_size) }.cast::<T>();