diff --git a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc
index c5297c4ca..fde75516e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc
+++ b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_geometries (db::Layout &layout, db::Cell &cell, LayerPurpose p
     if (test ("CLASS")) {
 
       //  accept CLASS token for PORT definitions
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
 
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_geometries (db::Layout &layout, db::Cell &cell, LayerPurpose p
         w = dw->second.first;
       }
 
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
 
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_nondefaultrule (db::Layout & /*layout*/)
           test (";");
           m_nondefault_widths[n][l] = std::make_pair (w, w);
         } else {
-          while (! test (";")) {
+          while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
             take ();
           }
         }
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_viadef_by_rule (RuleBasedViaGenerator *vg, ViaDesc &via_desc,
 
     } else {
 
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
 
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_viadef_by_geometry (GeometryBasedViaGenerator *vg, ViaDesc &vi
         routing_layers.push_back (layer_name);
       }
 
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
 
@@ -611,6 +611,13 @@ LEFImporter::read_viadef_by_geometry (GeometryBasedViaGenerator *vg, ViaDesc &vi
 
       expect (";");
 
+    } else if (test ("PROPERTY")) {
+
+      //  skip properties
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
+        take ();
+      }
+
     } else {
       //  stop at unknown token
       break;
@@ -726,7 +733,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_layer (Layout & /*layout*/)
           take ();
         }
       }
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
 
@@ -767,7 +774,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_layer (Layout & /*layout*/)
 
     } else {
 
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
 
@@ -886,7 +893,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_macro (Layout &layout)
           expect ("END");
 
         } else {
-          while (! test (";")) {
+          while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
             take ();
           }
         }
@@ -941,7 +948,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_macro (Layout &layout)
       expect (";");
 
     } else {
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
     }
@@ -1047,7 +1054,7 @@ LEFImporter::do_read (db::Layout &layout)
           /* dbu_mic = */ get_double ();
           expect (";");
         } else {
-          while (! test (";")) {
+          while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
             take ();
           }
         }
@@ -1109,7 +1116,7 @@ LEFImporter::do_read (db::Layout &layout)
       read_macro (layout);
 
     } else {
-      while (! test (";")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test (";")) {
         take ();
       }
     }
diff --git a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
index efd68ffa1..50fcb5341 100644
--- a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
+++ b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
@@ -392,6 +392,6 @@ TEST(111_mapfile)
 
 TEST(112_via_properties)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "via_properties", "lef:in.lef", "au.oas.gz", default_options (), false);
+  run_test (_this, "via_properties", "lef:in.lef+def:in.def", "au.oas.gz", default_options (), false);
 }
 
diff --git a/testdata/lefdef/via_properties/au.oas.gz b/testdata/lefdef/via_properties/au.oas.gz
index d6551998c..e86ce559a 100644
Binary files a/testdata/lefdef/via_properties/au.oas.gz and b/testdata/lefdef/via_properties/au.oas.gz differ