diff --git a/cmd/testdata/xl.meta-corrupt.gz b/cmd/testdata/xl.meta-corrupt.gz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..956b7a8d4
Binary files /dev/null and b/cmd/testdata/xl.meta-corrupt.gz differ
diff --git a/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2.go b/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2.go
index b2647f5f8..6d4a4b7d3 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2.go
@@ -658,7 +658,7 @@ func readXLMetaNoData(r io.Reader, size int64) ([]byte, error) {
 	buf := metaDataPoolGet()[:initial]
 	_, err := io.ReadFull(r, buf)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData.ReadFull: %w", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData(io.ReadFull): %w", err)
 	}
 	readMore := func(n int64) error {
 		has := int64(len(buf))
@@ -679,9 +679,9 @@ func readXLMetaNoData(r io.Reader, size int64) ([]byte, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
 				// Returned if we read nothing.
-				return fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData.readMore: %w", io.ErrUnexpectedEOF)
+				err = io.ErrUnexpectedEOF
 			}
-			return fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData.readMore: %w", err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData(readMore): %w", err)
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@ func readXLMetaNoData(r io.Reader, size int64) ([]byte, error) {
 		case 1, 2, 3:
 			sz, tmp, err := msgp.ReadBytesHeader(tmp)
 			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData(read_meta): uknown metadata version %w", err)
 			}
 			want := int64(sz) + int64(len(buf)-len(tmp))
 
@@ -720,10 +720,14 @@ func readXLMetaNoData(r io.Reader, size int64) ([]byte, error) {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 
+			if int64(len(buf)) < want {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("buffer shorter than expected (buflen: %d, want: %d): %w", len(buf), want, errFileCorrupt)
+			}
+
 			tmp = buf[want:]
 			_, after, err := msgp.ReadUint32Bytes(tmp)
 			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("readXLMetaNoData(read_meta): unknown metadata version %w", err)
 			}
 			want += int64(len(tmp) - len(after))
 
diff --git a/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2_test.go b/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2_test.go
index a8ec07587..c5727210c 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2_test.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-storage-format-v2_test.go
@@ -18,10 +18,13 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
+	"compress/gzip"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"os"
 	"sort"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -34,6 +37,29 @@ import (
 	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/ioutil"
 )
 
+func TestReadXLMetaNoData(t *testing.T) {
+	f, err := os.Open("testdata/xl.meta-corrupt.gz")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	gz, err := gzip.NewReader(bufio.NewReader(f))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	buf, err := io.ReadAll(gz)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	_, err = readXLMetaNoData(bytes.NewReader(buf), int64(len(buf)))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected error but returned success")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestXLV2FormatData(t *testing.T) {
 	failOnErr := func(err error) {
 		t.Helper()
diff --git a/cmd/xl-storage.go b/cmd/xl-storage.go
index d6149acc0..b09c6e248 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-storage.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-storage.go
@@ -398,6 +398,9 @@ func (s *xlStorage) readMetadataWithDMTime(ctx context.Context, itemPath string)
 		}
 	}
 	buf, err := readXLMetaNoData(f, stat.Size())
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, stat.ModTime().UTC(), fmt.Errorf("%w -> %s", err, itemPath)
+	}
 	return buf, stat.ModTime().UTC(), err
 }