diff --git a/runtime/check_jni.cc b/runtime/check_jni.cc
index a84e18a..09c48b1 100644
--- a/runtime/check_jni.cc
+++ b/runtime/check_jni.cc
@@ -1754,8 +1754,8 @@
     if (address == NULL) {
       JniAbortF(__FUNCTION__, "non-nullable address is NULL");
     }
-    if (capacity <= 0) {
-      JniAbortF(__FUNCTION__, "capacity must be greater than 0: %lld", capacity);
+    if (capacity < 0) {
+      JniAbortF(__FUNCTION__, "capacity must be non negative: %lld", capacity);
     }
     return CHECK_JNI_EXIT("L", baseEnv(env)->NewDirectByteBuffer(env, address, capacity));
   }