diff --git a/src/kernel_internals/typing/cabs2cil.ml b/src/kernel_internals/typing/cabs2cil.ml
index 5d1ef9ae8d4e6c443623d90b49e6b767b3c67663..3de84577103cb1b6bd7e3a17211be13da4001d09 100644
--- a/src/kernel_internals/typing/cabs2cil.ml
+++ b/src/kernel_internals/typing/cabs2cil.ml
@@ -3040,9 +3040,9 @@ let rec collectInitializer
         | Some len -> begin
             match constFoldToInt len with
             | Some ni when Integer.ge ni Integer.zero -> to_integer ni, false
-            | _ ->
-              abort_context
-                "\"Variable length array in structure\" extension is not supported"
+            | _ -> (* VLA cannot have initializers, and this should have
+                      been captured beforehand. *)
+              Kernel.fatal "Trying to initialize a variable-length array"
           end
         | _ ->
           (* unsized array case, length comes from initializers *)