diff --git a/cmd/rlpdump/main.go b/cmd/rlpdump/main.go
index 8567dcff83..528ccc6bd6 100644
--- a/cmd/rlpdump/main.go
+++ b/cmd/rlpdump/main.go
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
 
-	s := rlp.NewStream(r)
+	s := rlp.NewStream(r, 0)
 	for {
 		if err := dump(s, 0); err != nil {
 			if err != io.EOF {
diff --git a/cmd/utils/cmd.go b/cmd/utils/cmd.go
index 7286f5c5e4..64faf6ad1b 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/cmd.go
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ func ImportChain(chainmgr *core.ChainManager, fn string) error {
 	defer fh.Close()
 
 	chainmgr.Reset()
-	stream := rlp.NewStream(fh)
+	stream := rlp.NewStream(fh, 0)
 	var i, n int
 
 	batchSize := 2500
diff --git a/eth/protocol.go b/eth/protocol.go
index 1a19307dba..6b566f31b8 100644
--- a/eth/protocol.go
+++ b/eth/protocol.go
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ func (self *ethProtocol) handle() error {
 		return p2p.Send(self.rw, BlockHashesMsg, hashes)
 
 	case BlockHashesMsg:
-		msgStream := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload)
+		msgStream := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload, uint64(msg.Size))
 		if _, err := msgStream.List(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ func (self *ethProtocol) handle() error {
 		self.blockPool.AddBlockHashes(iter, self.id)
 
 	case GetBlocksMsg:
-		msgStream := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload)
+		msgStream := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload, uint64(msg.Size))
 		if _, err := msgStream.List(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ func (self *ethProtocol) handle() error {
 		return p2p.Send(self.rw, BlocksMsg, blocks)
 
 	case BlocksMsg:
-		msgStream := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload)
+		msgStream := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload, uint64(msg.Size))
 		if _, err := msgStream.List(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/p2p/message.go b/p2p/message.go
index b42acbe3cf..be6405d6f0 100644
--- a/p2p/message.go
+++ b/p2p/message.go
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ type Msg struct {
 //
 // For the decoding rules, please see package rlp.
 func (msg Msg) Decode(val interface{}) error {
-	if err := rlp.Decode(msg.Payload, val); err != nil {
+	s := rlp.NewStream(msg.Payload, uint64(msg.Size))
+	if err := s.Decode(val); err != nil {
 		return newPeerError(errInvalidMsg, "(code %x) (size %d) %v", msg.Code, msg.Size, err)
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/whisper/peer.go b/whisper/peer.go
index e4301f37c3..28abf42605 100644
--- a/whisper/peer.go
+++ b/whisper/peer.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func (self *peer) handshake() error {
 	if packet.Code != statusCode {
 		return fmt.Errorf("peer sent %x before status packet", packet.Code)
 	}
-	s := rlp.NewStream(packet.Payload)
+	s := rlp.NewStream(packet.Payload, uint64(packet.Size))
 	if _, err := s.List(); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("bad status message: %v", err)
 	}