diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/rpc/protobuf.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/rpc/protobuf.nim
index b2d6a0e..602b0fb 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/rpc/protobuf.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/rpc/protobuf.nim
@@ -304,14 +304,15 @@ proc decodeMessages*(pb: ProtoBuffer): ProtoResult[seq[Message]] {.inline.} =
   if ? pb.getRepeatedField(2, msgpbs):
     trace "decodeMessages: read messages", count = len(msgpbs)
     for item in msgpbs:
-      msgs.add(? decodeMessage(initProtoBuffer(item)))
+      # size is constrained at the network level
+      msgs.add(? decodeMessage(initProtoBuffer(item, maxSize = uint.high)))
   else:
     trace "decodeMessages: no messages found"
   ok(msgs)
 
 proc encodeRpcMsg*(msg: RPCMsg, anonymize: bool): seq[byte] =
   trace "encodeRpcMsg: encoding message", msg = msg.shortLog()
-  var pb = initProtoBuffer()
+  var pb = initProtoBuffer(maxSize = uint.high)
   for item in msg.subscriptions:
     pb.write(1, item)
   for item in msg.messages:
@@ -324,7 +325,7 @@ proc encodeRpcMsg*(msg: RPCMsg, anonymize: bool): seq[byte] =
 
 proc decodeRpcMsg*(msg: seq[byte]): ProtoResult[RPCMsg] {.inline.} =
   trace "decodeRpcMsg: decoding message", msg = msg.shortLog()
-  var pb = initProtoBuffer(msg)
+  var pb = initProtoBuffer(msg, maxSize = uint.high)
   var rpcMsg = ok(RPCMsg())
   assign(rpcMsg.get().messages, ? pb.decodeMessages())
   assign(rpcMsg.get().subscriptions, ? pb.decodeSubscriptions())
diff --git a/tests/pubsub/testfloodsub.nim b/tests/pubsub/testfloodsub.nim
index 0606618..ecac405 100644
--- a/tests/pubsub/testfloodsub.nim
+++ b/tests/pubsub/testfloodsub.nim
@@ -362,3 +362,35 @@ suite "FloodSub":
     )
 
     await allFuturesThrowing(nodesFut)
+
+  asyncTest "FloodSub message size validation 2":
+    var messageReceived = 0
+    proc handler(topic: string, data: seq[byte]) {.async, gcsafe.} =
+      inc(messageReceived)
+
+    let
+      bigNode1 = generateNodes(1, maxMessageSize = 20000000)
+      bigNode2 = generateNodes(1, maxMessageSize = 20000000)
+
+      # start switches
+      nodesFut = await allFinished(
+        bigNode1[0].switch.start(),
+        bigNode2[0].switch.start(),
+      )
+
+    await subscribeNodes(bigNode1 & bigNode2)
+    bigNode2[0].subscribe("foo", handler)
+    await waitSub(bigNode1[0], bigNode2[0], "foo")
+
+    let bigMessage = newSeq[byte](19000000)
+
+    check (await bigNode1[0].publish("foo", bigMessage)) > 0
+
+    checkExpiring: messageReceived == 1
+
+    await allFuturesThrowing(
+      bigNode1[0].switch.stop(),
+      bigNode2[0].switch.stop()
+    )
+
+    await allFuturesThrowing(nodesFut)