diff --git a/MD_STD.php b/MD_STD.php
index b9e1578..9ac9b01 100644
--- a/MD_STD.php
+++ b/MD_STD.php
@@ -184,7 +184,9 @@ final class MD_STD {
      */
     public static function runCurl(string $url, int $timeout = 1200):string {
 
-        $curl = \curl_init();
+        if (($curl = \curl_init()) === false) {
+            throw new MDExpectedException("Curl initialization failed.");
+        }
 
         \curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
         \curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);