diff --git a/q.c b/q.c
index 0669269..2855a22 100644
--- a/q.c
+++ b/q.c
@@ -1058,6 +1058,8 @@ static ray_t *q_des_obj(uint8_t **buf, int64_t *len) {
 
   case Q_XT: { /* table = attrs(0) + dict_marker(99) + keys + values */
     Q_NEED(2);
+    if ((*buf)[0] != 0 || (*buf)[1] != Q_XD)
+      return ray_error("q: malformed table marker", NULL);
     (*buf) += 2;
     *len -= 2;
     ray_t *keys = q_des_obj(buf, len);
@@ -1373,7 +1375,9 @@ ray_t *q_decode(uint8_t *resp, int64_t resp_len, int compressed, char *err,
     free(decompressed);
   if (result == NULL)
     q_set_err(err, errlen, "q: deserialization returned null");
-  else if (remaining != 0) {
+  else if (RAY_IS_ERR(result)) {
+    return result;
+  } else if (remaining != 0) {
     q_release_any(result);
     q_set_err(err, errlen, "q: trailing bytes after object");
     return NULL;
diff --git a/test/driver.c b/test/driver.c
index 8bdf204..008918c 100644
--- a/test/driver.c
+++ b/test/driver.c
@@ -333,6 +333,21 @@ static int run_codec_selftest(void) {
   }
   release_any(r);
 
+  err[0] = '\0';
+  uint8_t bad_table_marker[] = {98, 0, 0, 11, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+                                0,  0, 0, 0,  0, 0, 0, 0};
+  r = q_decode(bad_table_marker, (int64_t)sizeof bad_table_marker, 0, err,
+               sizeof err);
+  ray_t *rs = r ? ray_fmt(r, 0) : NULL;
+  const char *rp = rs ? ray_str_ptr(rs) : err;
+  if (r == NULL || !RAY_IS_ERR(r) || strstr(rp, "q: malf") == NULL) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "codec selftest: malformed table marker was accepted\n");
+    failures++;
+  }
+  if (rs)
+    ray_release(rs);
+  release_any(r);
+
   if (q_connect("127.0.0.1", 70000, "", "", 1) != Q_ERR_SOCKET) {
     fprintf(stderr, "codec selftest: client accepted out-of-range port\n");
     failures++;