diff --git a/bin/bytes.go b/bin/bytes.go
index 8869c7dcc1..ffaaf1f829 100644
--- a/bin/bytes.go
+++ b/bin/bytes.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func decodeBytes(b []byte) (n int, v []byte, err error) {
 	if len(b[1:]) < int(vLen) {
 		return 0, nil, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF
 	}
-	if vLen >= maxSmallStringLength {
+	if vLen > maxSmallStringLength {
 		return 0, nil, errors.New("invalid length")
 	}
 	return nearestPaddedValueLength(int(vLen) + 1), b[1 : vLen+1], nil
diff --git a/bin/bytes_test.go b/bin/bytes_test.go
index 5fd7d97733..cff791c5f5 100644
--- a/bin/bytes_test.go
+++ b/bin/bytes_test.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ func TestBytesDecodeEncode(t *testing.T) {
 			0x20, 0x75, 0x70, 0x2c,
 			0x20, 0x4e, 0x65, 0x6f,
 		},
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte{1}, 253),
 	} {
 		buf := encodeBytes(nil, b)
 		if len(buf)%4 != 0 {
diff --git a/bin/string.go b/bin/string.go
index d21156624e..4104a7bb5d 100644
--- a/bin/string.go
+++ b/bin/string.go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func decodeString(b []byte) (n int, v string, err error) {
 	if len(b) < (int(strLen) + 1) {
 		return 0, "", io.ErrUnexpectedEOF
 	}
-	if strLen >= maxSmallStringLength {
+	if strLen > maxSmallStringLength {
 		return 0, "", errors.New("invalid length")
 	}
 	return nearestPaddedValueLength(int(strLen) + 1), string(b[1 : strLen+1]), nil
diff --git a/bin/string_test.go b/bin/string_test.go
index 02223d03c0..1a794c0a95 100644
--- a/bin/string_test.go
+++ b/bin/string_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ func TestStringDecodeEncode(t *testing.T) {
 		"ba",
 		"what are you doing?",
 		"кек",
+		strings.Repeat("a", 253),
 	} {
 		buf := encodeString(nil, s)
 		if len(buf)%4 != 0 {