diff --git a/lib/symboldatabase.cpp b/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
index 0fc1e54a830..5b421704a49 100644
--- a/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
+++ b/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
@@ -2146,18 +2146,18 @@ void SymbolDatabase::validateExecutableScopes() const
 }
 
 namespace {
-    const Function* getFunctionForArgumentvariable(const Variable * const var, const std::vector<const Scope *>& functionScopes)
+    const Function* getFunctionForArgumentvariable(const Variable * const var)
     {
-        const std::size_t functions = functionScopes.size();
-        for (std::size_t i = 0; i < functions; ++i) {
-            const Scope* const scope = functionScopes[i];
-            const Function* const function = scope->function;
-            if (function) {
-                for (std::size_t arg=0; arg < function->argCount(); ++arg) {
-                    if (var==function->getArgumentVar(arg))
-                        return function;
+        if (const Scope* scope = var->nameToken()->scope()) {
+            auto it = std::find_if(scope->functionList.begin(), scope->functionList.end(), [&](const Function& function) {
+                for (std::size_t arg = 0; arg < function.argCount(); ++arg) {
+                    if (var == function.getArgumentVar(arg))
+                        return true;
                 }
-            }
+                return false;
+            });
+            if (it != scope->functionList.end())
+                return &*it;
         }
         return nullptr;
     }
@@ -2169,10 +2169,9 @@ void SymbolDatabase::validateVariables() const
         const Variable * const var = *iter;
         if (var) {
             if (!var->scope()) {
-                const Function* function = getFunctionForArgumentvariable(var, functionScopes);
-                if (!var->isArgument() || (function && function->hasBody())) {
+                const Function* function = getFunctionForArgumentvariable(var);
+                if (!var->isArgument() || (!function || function->hasBody())) { // variables which only appear in a function declaration do not have a scope
                     throw InternalError(var->nameToken(), "Analysis failed (variable without scope). If the code is valid then please report this failure.", InternalError::INTERNAL);
-                    //std::cout << "!!!Variable found without scope: " << var->nameToken()->str() << std::endl;
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -2184,8 +2183,7 @@ void SymbolDatabase::validate() const
     if (mSettings.debugwarnings) {
         validateExecutableScopes();
     }
-    // TODO
-    //validateVariables();
+    validateVariables();
 }
 
 void SymbolDatabase::clangSetVariables(const std::vector<const Variable *> &variableList)
diff --git a/lib/symboldatabase.h b/lib/symboldatabase.h
index 1395caed76d..ffa0777ecf5 100644
--- a/lib/symboldatabase.h
+++ b/lib/symboldatabase.h
@@ -1392,12 +1392,6 @@ class CPPCHECKLIB SymbolDatabase {
      */
     void validate() const;
 
-    void validateExecutableScopes() const;
-    /**
-     * @brief Check variable list, e.g. variables w/o scope
-     */
-    void validateVariables() const;
-
     /** Set valuetype in provided tokenlist */
     void setValueTypeInTokenList(bool reportDebugWarnings, Token *tokens=nullptr);
 
@@ -1465,6 +1459,12 @@ class CPPCHECKLIB SymbolDatabase {
     void setValueType(Token* tok, const Variable& var, const SourceLocation &loc = SourceLocation::current());
     void setValueType(Token* tok, const Enumerator& enumerator, const SourceLocation &loc = SourceLocation::current());
 
+    void validateExecutableScopes() const;
+    /**
+     * @brief Check variable list, e.g. variables w/o scope
+     */
+    void validateVariables() const;
+
     Tokenizer& mTokenizer;
     const Settings &mSettings;
     ErrorLogger *mErrorLogger;
diff --git a/lib/tokenize.cpp b/lib/tokenize.cpp
index 0680fcd3f47..a2dba01c5ea 100644
--- a/lib/tokenize.cpp
+++ b/lib/tokenize.cpp
@@ -8406,6 +8406,9 @@ void Tokenizer::findGarbageCode() const
         else if (Token::Match(tok, "%assign% [") && Token::simpleMatch(tok->linkAt(1), "] ;"))
             syntaxError(tok, tok->str() + "[...];");
 
+        else if (Token::Match(tok, "[({<] %assign%"))
+            syntaxError(tok);
+
         // UNKNOWN_MACRO(return)
         if (tok->isKeyword() && Token::Match(tok, "throw|return )") && Token::Match(tok->linkAt(1)->previous(), "%name% ("))
             unknownMacroError(tok->linkAt(1)->previous());
diff --git a/test/cli/fuzz-crash/crash-2490dbc1880f2d7883c1b634deee8da3805186f8 b/test/cli/fuzz-crash/crash-2490dbc1880f2d7883c1b634deee8da3805186f8
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..60a55bed0b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/fuzz-crash/crash-2490dbc1880f2d7883c1b634deee8da3805186f8
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+i a;m t(=a[]);m e(){a[]=0}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/testgarbage.cpp b/test/testgarbage.cpp
index 5a6187cb3ca..f52ba217473 100644
--- a/test/testgarbage.cpp
+++ b/test/testgarbage.cpp
@@ -1644,23 +1644,23 @@ class TestGarbage : public TestFixture {
     }
 
     void garbageCode205() {
-        checkCode("class CodeSnippetsEvent : public wxCommandEvent {\n"
-                  "public :\n"
-                  "    CodeSnippetsEvent ( wxEventType commandType =  wxEventType , int id = 0 ) ;\n"
-                  "    CodeSnippetsEvent ( const CodeSnippetsEvent & event ) ;\n"
-                  "virtual wxEvent * Clone ( ) const { return new CodeSnippetsEvent ( * this ) ; }\n"
-                  "private :\n"
-                  "    int m_SnippetID ;\n"
-                  "} ;\n"
-                  "const  wxEventType wxEVT_CODESNIPPETS_GETFILELINKS  =  wxNewEventType  (  )\n"
-                  "CodeSnippetsEvent :: CodeSnippetsEvent ( wxEventType commandType , int id )\n"
-                  ": wxCommandEvent ( commandType , id ) {\n"
-                  "}\n"
-                  "CodeSnippetsEvent :: CodeSnippetsEvent ( const CodeSnippetsEvent & Event )\n"
-                  ": wxCommandEvent ( Event )\n"
-                  ", m_SnippetID ( 0 ) {\n"
-                  "}"); // don't crash
-        (void)errout_str(); // we are not interested in the output
+        ASSERT_THROW(checkCode("class CodeSnippetsEvent : public wxCommandEvent {\n"
+                               "public :\n"
+                               "    CodeSnippetsEvent ( wxEventType commandType =  wxEventType , int id = 0 ) ;\n"
+                               "    CodeSnippetsEvent ( const CodeSnippetsEvent & event ) ;\n"
+                               "virtual wxEvent * Clone ( ) const { return new CodeSnippetsEvent ( * this ) ; }\n"
+                               "private :\n"
+                               "    int m_SnippetID ;\n"
+                               "} ;\n"
+                               "const  wxEventType wxEVT_CODESNIPPETS_GETFILELINKS  =  wxNewEventType  (  )\n"
+                               "CodeSnippetsEvent :: CodeSnippetsEvent ( wxEventType commandType , int id )\n"
+                               ": wxCommandEvent ( commandType , id ) {\n"
+                               "}\n"
+                               "CodeSnippetsEvent :: CodeSnippetsEvent ( const CodeSnippetsEvent & Event )\n"
+                               ": wxCommandEvent ( Event )\n"
+                               ", m_SnippetID ( 0 ) {\n"
+                               "}"),
+                     InternalError);
     }
 
     void garbageCode206() {