diff --git a/tree/ntuple/src/RMiniFile.cxx b/tree/ntuple/src/RMiniFile.cxx
index 243f939b4bf57..72b4375558007 100644
--- a/tree/ntuple/src/RMiniFile.cxx
+++ b/tree/ntuple/src/RMiniFile.cxx
@@ -823,19 +823,26 @@ ROOT::RResult<ROOT::RNTuple> ROOT::Internal::RMiniFileReader::GetNTupleProperAtO
                                                                                       std::uint64_t compSize,
                                                                                       std::uint64_t uncompLen)
 {
+   if (compSize > uncompLen) {
+      return R__FAIL("Invalid size and length combination of anchor at offset " + std::to_string(payloadOffset) +
+                     " (length: " + std::to_string(uncompLen) + ", bytes on disk: " + std::to_string(compSize) + ")");
+   }
+
    // The object length can be smaller than the size of RTFNTuple if it comes from a past RNTuple class version,
    // or larger than it if it comes from a future RNTuple class version.
    auto bufAnchor = MakeUninitArray<unsigned char>(std::max<size_t>(uncompLen, sizeof(RTFNTuple)));
    RTFNTuple *ntuple = new (bufAnchor.get()) RTFNTuple;
 
-   if (compSize != uncompLen) {
+   if (compSize < uncompLen) {
       // Read into a temporary buffer
-      auto unzipBuf = MakeUninitArray<unsigned char>(std::max<size_t>(uncompLen, sizeof(RTFNTuple)));
-      ReadBuffer(unzipBuf.get(), compSize, payloadOffset);
+      auto zipBuf = MakeUninitArray<unsigned char>(compSize);
+      ReadBuffer(zipBuf.get(), compSize, payloadOffset);
       // Unzip into the final buffer
-      RNTupleDecompressor::Unzip(unzipBuf.get(), compSize, uncompLen, ntuple);
+      RNTupleDecompressor::Unzip(zipBuf.get(), compSize, uncompLen, ntuple);
    } else {
-      ReadBuffer(ntuple, compSize, payloadOffset);
+      // We can directly decompress into ntuple because this RTFNTuple object has been constructed in a memory area
+      // of (max(uncompLen, sizeof(RTFNTuple))) bytes.
+      ReadBuffer(ntuple, uncompLen, payloadOffset);
    }
 
    // We require that future class versions only append members and store the checksum in the last 8 bytes
diff --git a/tree/ntuple/test/ntuple_minifile.cxx b/tree/ntuple/test/ntuple_minifile.cxx
index a93449eb69c51..955659da6542d 100644
--- a/tree/ntuple/test/ntuple_minifile.cxx
+++ b/tree/ntuple/test/ntuple_minifile.cxx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "ntuple_test.hxx"
+#include <Byteswap.h>
 #include <TKey.h>
 #include <TTree.h>
 #include <TUUID.h>
@@ -932,3 +933,49 @@ TEST(MiniFile, FreeSlots)
       EXPECT_TRUE(found);
    }
 }
+
+TEST(MiniFile, InvalidAnchor)
+{
+   FileRaii fileGuard("test_ntuple_minifile_invalid_anchor.root");
+   RNTupleWriteOptions options;
+   auto writer = RNTupleFileWriter::Recreate("ntpl", fileGuard.GetPath(), EContainerFormat::kTFile, options);
+   writer->Commit();
+
+   auto tfile = std::unique_ptr<TFile>(TFile::Open(fileGuard.GetPath().c_str()));
+   ASSERT_TRUE(tfile && !tfile->IsZombie());
+   Long64_t seekKey = 0;
+   int objLen = 0;
+   int nbytes = 0;
+   auto keys = tfile->WalkTKeys();
+   for (const auto &k : keys) {
+      if (k.fKeyName == "ntpl") {
+         seekKey = k.fSeekKey;
+         objLen = k.fObjLen;
+         ASSERT_GT(k.fLen, k.fKeyLen);
+         nbytes = k.fLen - k.fKeyLen;
+         break;
+      }
+   }
+   ASSERT_GT(seekKey, 0);
+   ASSERT_GE(objLen, nbytes);
+
+   // We corrupt the RNTuple anchor key such that the size on disk becomes _larger_ than the length of the object.
+   auto fp = fopen(fileGuard.GetPath().c_str(), "r+b");
+   ASSERT_TRUE(fp != nullptr);
+   ASSERT_EQ(0, fseek(fp, seekKey, SEEK_SET));
+   std::int32_t oversizedLen = objLen - nbytes + 1;
+#ifdef R__BYTESWAP
+   std::int32_t onDiskVal = RByteSwap<4>::bswap(oversizedLen);
+   ASSERT_EQ(1u, fwrite(&onDiskVal, sizeof(std::int32_t), 1, fp));
+#else
+   ASSERT_EQ(1u, fwrite(&oversizedLen, sizeof(std::int32_t), 1, fp));
+#endif
+   fclose(fp);
+
+   try {
+      RNTupleReader::Open("ntpl", fileGuard.GetPath());
+      FAIL() << "invalid anchor key should fail";
+   } catch (const ROOT::RException &e) {
+      EXPECT_THAT(e.what(), testing::HasSubstr("Invalid size and length combination of anchor"));
+   }
+}