diff --git a/src/bdecode.cpp b/src/bdecode.cpp
index 4a729fc12..da1c666db 100644
--- a/src/bdecode.cpp
+++ b/src/bdecode.cpp
@@ -796,6 +796,7 @@ namespace {
 					std::int64_t len = t - '0';
 					char const* const str_start = start;
 					++start;
+					if (start >= end) TORRENT_FAIL_BDECODE(bdecode_errors::unexpected_eof);
 					bdecode_errors::error_code_enum e = bdecode_errors::no_error;
 					start = parse_int(start, end, ':', len, e);
 					if (e)
diff --git a/test/test_bdecode.cpp b/test/test_bdecode.cpp
index 54ee5a8ac..5b2a5afe4 100644
--- a/test/test_bdecode.cpp
+++ b/test/test_bdecode.cpp
@@ -483,10 +483,10 @@ TORRENT_TEST(unepected_eof)
 	std::printf("%s\n", print_entry(e).c_str());
 }
 
-// test unexpected EOF (really expected terminator)
+// test unexpected EOF in string length
 TORRENT_TEST(unepected_eof2)
 {
-	char b[] = "l2:..0"; // expected terminating 'e' instead of '0'
+	char b[] = "l2:..0"; // expected ':' delimiter instead of EOF
 
 	bdecode_node e;
 	error_code ec;
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ TORRENT_TEST(unepected_eof2)
 	int ret = bdecode(b, b + sizeof(b)-1, e, ec, &pos);
 	TEST_EQUAL(ret, -1);
 	TEST_EQUAL(pos, 6);
-	TEST_EQUAL(ec, error_code(bdecode_errors::expected_colon));
+	TEST_EQUAL(ec, error_code(bdecode_errors::unexpected_eof));
 	std::printf("%s\n", print_entry(e).c_str());
 }