diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c
index 45048323b75e..5ec2261574ec 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c
@@ -265,19 +265,41 @@ static noinline int i2cdev_ioctl_rdrw(struct i2c_client *client,
 
 	res = 0;
 	for (i = 0; i < rdwr_arg.nmsgs; i++) {
-		/* Limit the size of the message to a sane amount;
-		 * and don't let length change either. */
-		if ((rdwr_pa[i].len > 8192) ||
-		    (rdwr_pa[i].flags & I2C_M_RECV_LEN)) {
+		/* Limit the size of the message to a sane amount */
+		if (rdwr_pa[i].len > 8192) {
 			res = -EINVAL;
 			break;
 		}
+
 		data_ptrs[i] = (u8 __user *)rdwr_pa[i].buf;
 		rdwr_pa[i].buf = memdup_user(data_ptrs[i], rdwr_pa[i].len);
 		if (IS_ERR(rdwr_pa[i].buf)) {
 			res = PTR_ERR(rdwr_pa[i].buf);
 			break;
 		}
+
+		/*
+		 * If the message length is received from the slave (similar
+		 * to SMBus block read), we must ensure that the buffer will
+		 * be large enough to cope with a message length of
+		 * I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX as this is the maximum underlying bus
+		 * drivers allow. The first byte in the buffer must be
+		 * pre-filled with the number of extra bytes, which must be
+		 * at least one to hold the message length, but can be
+		 * greater (for example to account for a checksum byte at
+		 * the end of the message.)
+		 */
+		if (rdwr_pa[i].flags & I2C_M_RECV_LEN) {
+			if (!(rdwr_pa[i].flags & I2C_M_RD) ||
+			    rdwr_pa[i].buf[0] < 1 ||
+			    rdwr_pa[i].len < rdwr_pa[i].buf[0] +
+					     I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX) {
+				res = -EINVAL;
+				break;
+			}
+
+			rdwr_pa[i].len = rdwr_pa[i].buf[0];
+		}
 	}
 	if (res < 0) {
 		int j;