diff --git a/ecies.go b/ecies.go
index 0e2403d471..18952fc0b6 100644
--- a/ecies.go
+++ b/ecies.go
@@ -13,11 +13,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	ErrImport           = fmt.Errorf("ecies: failed to import key")
-	ErrInvalidCurve     = fmt.Errorf("ecies: invalid elliptic curve")
-	ErrInvalidParams    = fmt.Errorf("ecies: invalid ECIES parameters")
-	ErrInvalidPublicKey = fmt.Errorf("ecies: invalid public key")
-	ErrSharedKeyTooBig  = fmt.Errorf("ecies: shared key is too big")
+	ErrImport                     = fmt.Errorf("ecies: failed to import key")
+	ErrInvalidCurve               = fmt.Errorf("ecies: invalid elliptic curve")
+	ErrInvalidParams              = fmt.Errorf("ecies: invalid ECIES parameters")
+	ErrInvalidPublicKey           = fmt.Errorf("ecies: invalid public key")
+	ErrSharedKeyIsPointAtInfinity = fmt.Errorf("ecies: shared key is point at infinity")
+	ErrSharedKeyTooBig            = fmt.Errorf("ecies: shared key params are too big")
 )
 
 // PublicKey is a representation of an elliptic curve public key.
@@ -90,16 +91,20 @@ func MaxSharedKeyLength(pub *PublicKey) int {
 // ECDH key agreement method used to establish secret keys for encryption.
 func (prv *PrivateKey) GenerateShared(pub *PublicKey, skLen, macLen int) (sk []byte, err error) {
 	if prv.PublicKey.Curve != pub.Curve {
-		err = ErrInvalidCurve
-		return
+		return nil, ErrInvalidCurve
+	}
+	if skLen+macLen > MaxSharedKeyLength(pub) {
+		return nil, ErrSharedKeyTooBig
 	}
 	x, _ := pub.Curve.ScalarMult(pub.X, pub.Y, prv.D.Bytes())
-	if x == nil || (x.BitLen()+7)/8 < (skLen+macLen) {
-		err = ErrSharedKeyTooBig
-		return
+	if x == nil {
+		return nil, ErrSharedKeyIsPointAtInfinity
 	}
-	sk = x.Bytes()[:skLen+macLen]
-	return
+
+	sk = make([]byte, skLen+macLen)
+	skBytes := x.Bytes()
+	copy(sk[len(sk)-len(skBytes):], skBytes)
+	return sk, nil
 }
 
 var (