diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 0c247f9821..5084c48ec4 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ Security
      a non DER-compliant certificate correctly signed by a trusted CA, or a
      trusted CA with a non DER-compliant certificate. Found by luocm on GitHub.
      Fixes #825.
+   * Fix buffer length assertion in the ssl_parse_certificate_request()
+     function which leads to an arbitrary overread of the message buffer. The
+     overreads could occur upon receiving a message malformed at the point
+     where an optional signature algorithms list is expected in the cases of
+     the signature algorithms section being too short. In the debug builds
+     the overread data is printed to the standard output.
 
 Bugfix
    * Add missing dependencies in test suites that led to build failures
@@ -26,6 +32,9 @@ Bugfix
      the mbedtls_cipher_update() documentation. Contributed by Andy Leiserson.
    * Fix overriding and ignoring return values when parsing and writing to
      a file in pk_sign program. Found by kevlut in #1142.
+   * Fix buffer length assertions in the ssl_parse_certificate_request()
+     function which leads to a potential one byte overread of the message
+     buffer.
 
 Changes
    * Improve testing in configurations that omit certain hashes or
diff --git a/library/ssl_cli.c b/library/ssl_cli.c
index 415c506ead..1899886b0c 100644
--- a/library/ssl_cli.c
+++ b/library/ssl_cli.c
@@ -2402,7 +2402,7 @@ static int ssl_parse_certificate_request( mbedtls_ssl_context *ssl )
 {
     int ret;
     unsigned char *buf, *p;
-    size_t n = 0, m = 0;
+    size_t n = 0;
     size_t cert_type_len = 0, dn_len = 0;
     const mbedtls_ssl_ciphersuite_t *ciphersuite_info =
         ssl->transform_negotiate->ciphersuite_info;
@@ -2456,10 +2456,27 @@ static int ssl_parse_certificate_request( mbedtls_ssl_context *ssl )
 
     // Retrieve cert types
     //
+    if( ssl->in_hslen <= mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) )
+    {
+        MBEDTLS_SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 1, ( "bad certificate request message" ) );
+        mbedtls_ssl_send_alert_message( ssl, MBEDTLS_SSL_ALERT_LEVEL_FATAL,
+                                        MBEDTLS_SSL_ALERT_MSG_DECODE_ERROR );
+        return( MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_BAD_HS_CERTIFICATE_REQUEST );
+    }
     cert_type_len = buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl )];
     n = cert_type_len;
 
-    if( ssl->in_hslen < mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 2 + n )
+    /*
+     * In the subsequent code there are two paths that read from buf:
+     *     * the length of the signature algorithms field (if minor version of
+     *       SSL is 3),
+     *     * distinguished name length otherwise.
+     * Both reach at most the index:
+     *    ...hdr_len + 2 + n,
+     * therefore the buffer length at this point must be greater than that
+     * regardless of the actual code path.
+     */
+    if( ssl->in_hslen <= mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 2 + n )
     {
         MBEDTLS_SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 1, ( "bad certificate request message" ) );
         return( MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_BAD_HS_CERTIFICATE_REQUEST );
@@ -2501,25 +2518,51 @@ static int ssl_parse_certificate_request( mbedtls_ssl_context *ssl )
         // TODO: should check the signature part against our pk_key though
         size_t sig_alg_len = ( ( buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 1 + n] <<  8 )
                              | ( buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 2 + n]       ) );
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_DEBUG_C)
+        unsigned char* sig_alg;
+        size_t i;
+#endif
 
-        m += 2;
-        n += sig_alg_len;
-
-        if( ssl->in_hslen < mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 2 + n )
+        /*
+         * The furthest access in buf is in the loop few lines below:
+         *     sig_alg[i + 1],
+         * where:
+         *     sig_alg = buf + ...hdr_len + 3 + n,
+         *     max(i) = sig_alg_len - 1.
+         * Therefore the furthest access is:
+         *     buf[...hdr_len + 3 + n + sig_alg_len - 1 + 1],
+         * which reduces to:
+         *     buf[...hdr_len + 3 + n + sig_alg_len],
+         * which is one less than we need the buf to be.
+         */
+        if( ssl->in_hslen <= mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 3 + n + sig_alg_len )
         {
             MBEDTLS_SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 1, ( "bad certificate request message" ) );
+            mbedtls_ssl_send_alert_message( ssl, MBEDTLS_SSL_ALERT_LEVEL_FATAL,
+                                            MBEDTLS_SSL_ALERT_MSG_DECODE_ERROR );
             return( MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_BAD_HS_CERTIFICATE_REQUEST );
         }
+
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_DEBUG_C)
+        sig_alg = buf + mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 3 + n;
+        for( i = 0; i < sig_alg_len; i += 2 )
+        {
+            MBEDTLS_SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 3, ( "Supported Signature Algorithm found: %d"
+                                        ",%d", sig_alg[i], sig_alg[i + 1]  ) );
+        }
+#endif
+
+        n += 2 + sig_alg_len;
     }
 #endif /* MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_2 */
 
     /* Ignore certificate_authorities, we only have one cert anyway */
     // TODO: should not send cert if no CA matches
-    dn_len = ( ( buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 1 + m + n] <<  8 )
-             | ( buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 2 + m + n]       ) );
+    dn_len = ( ( buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 1 + n] <<  8 )
+             | ( buf[mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 2 + n]       ) );
 
     n += dn_len;
-    if( ssl->in_hslen != mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 3 + m + n )
+    if( ssl->in_hslen != mbedtls_ssl_hs_hdr_len( ssl ) + 3 + n )
     {
         MBEDTLS_SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 1, ( "bad certificate request message" ) );
         return( MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_BAD_HS_CERTIFICATE_REQUEST );