diff --git a/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go b/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go
index 51a43f6..9b26856 100644
--- a/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go
+++ b/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ func untar() {
 		fatal(err)
 	}
 	// fully consume stdin in case it is zero padded
-	flush(os.Stdin)
+	if _, err := flush(os.Stdin); err != nil {
+		fatal(err)
+	}
+
 	os.Exit(0)
 }
 
diff --git a/chrootarchive/diff_unix.go b/chrootarchive/diff_unix.go
index 4196dd4..a4adb74 100644
--- a/chrootarchive/diff_unix.go
+++ b/chrootarchive/diff_unix.go
@@ -65,8 +65,10 @@ func applyLayer() {
 		fatal(fmt.Errorf("unable to encode layerSize JSON: %s", err))
 	}
 
-	flush(os.Stdout)
-	flush(os.Stdin)
+	if _, err := flush(os.Stdin); err != nil {
+		fatal(err)
+	}
+
 	os.Exit(0)
 }
 
diff --git a/chrootarchive/init_unix.go b/chrootarchive/init_unix.go
index 49fcacc..4f637f1 100644
--- a/chrootarchive/init_unix.go
+++ b/chrootarchive/init_unix.go
@@ -23,6 +23,6 @@ func fatal(err error) {
 
 // flush consumes all the bytes from the reader discarding
 // any errors
-func flush(r io.Reader) {
-	io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, r)
+func flush(r io.Reader) (bytes int64, err error) {
+	return io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, r)
 }