diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index 7057e37e8da..39f917b1867 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2019-09-19  Tom de Vries  <tdevries@suse.de>
+
+	PR gdb/25009
+	* source-cache.c (source_cache::ensure): Catch exception thrown during
+	construction of the highlighter.
+
 2019-09-18  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
 
 	* aarch64-linux-tdep.c, * arm-tdep.c, * auto-load.c,
diff --git a/gdb/source-cache.c b/gdb/source-cache.c
index 7a52ce9458e..1fe6da81326 100644
--- a/gdb/source-cache.c
+++ b/gdb/source-cache.c
@@ -190,14 +190,14 @@ source_cache::ensure (struct symtab *s)
 	     conditional compilation in source-cache.h.  */
 	  static srchilite::SourceHighlight *highlighter;
 
-	  if (highlighter == nullptr)
-	    {
-	      highlighter = new srchilite::SourceHighlight ("esc.outlang");
-	      highlighter->setStyleFile ("esc.style");
-	    }
-
 	  try
 	    {
+	      if (highlighter == nullptr)
+		{
+		  highlighter = new srchilite::SourceHighlight ("esc.outlang");
+		  highlighter->setStyleFile ("esc.style");
+		}
+
 	      std::istringstream input (contents);
 	      std::ostringstream output;
 	      highlighter->highlight (input, output, lang_name, fullname);