diff --git a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c
index 4c58880f8c..13606cea44 100644
--- a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c
+++ b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c
@@ -1997,8 +1997,14 @@ read_vhost_message(int sockfd, struct VhostUserMsg *msg)
 
 	ret = read_fd_message(sockfd, (char *)msg, VHOST_USER_HDR_SIZE,
 		msg->fds, VHOST_MEMORY_MAX_NREGIONS, &msg->fd_num);
-	if (ret <= 0)
+	if (ret <= 0) {
 		return ret;
+	} else if (ret != VHOST_USER_HDR_SIZE) {
+		RTE_LOG(ERR, VHOST_CONFIG,
+			"Unexpected header size read\n");
+		close_msg_fds(msg);
+		return -1;
+	}
 
 	if (msg->size) {
 		if (msg->size > sizeof(msg->payload)) {