diff --git a/agent/config/builder.go b/agent/config/builder.go
index 7b99b49602..d0a3a353de 100644
--- a/agent/config/builder.go
+++ b/agent/config/builder.go
@@ -999,7 +999,7 @@ func (b *Builder) serviceVal(v *ServiceDefinition) *structs.ServiceDefinition {
 
 	meta := make(map[string]string)
 	if err := structs.ValidateMetadata(v.Meta, false); err != nil {
-		b.err = multierror.Append(fmt.Errorf("invalid meta for service %v: %v", v.Name, err))
+		b.err = multierror.Append(fmt.Errorf("invalid meta for service %s: %v", *v.Name, err))
 	} else {
 		meta = v.Meta
 	}
diff --git a/agent/config/runtime_test.go b/agent/config/runtime_test.go
index 511ebc4a80..4306ce6ad9 100644
--- a/agent/config/runtime_test.go
+++ b/agent/config/runtime_test.go
@@ -1939,6 +1939,32 @@ func TestConfigFlagsAndEdgecases(t *testing.T) {
 				rt.DataDir = dataDir
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			desc: "service with wrong meta: too long",
+			args: []string{
+				`-data-dir=` + dataDir,
+			},
+			json: []string{
+				`{ "service": { "name": "a", "port": 80, "meta": { "a": "` + randomString(520) + `" } } }`,
+			},
+			hcl: []string{
+				`service = { name = "a" port = 80, meta={a="` + randomString(520) + `"} }`,
+			},
+			err: `Value is too long`,
+		},
+		{
+			desc: "service with wrong meta: too many meta",
+			args: []string{
+				`-data-dir=` + dataDir,
+			},
+			json: []string{
+				`{ "service": { "name": "a", "port": 80, "meta": { ` + metaPairs(70, "json") + `} } }`,
+			},
+			hcl: []string{
+				`service = { name = "a" port = 80 meta={` + metaPairs(70, "hcl") + `} }`,
+			},
+			err: `invalid meta for service a: Node metadata cannot contain more than 64 key`,
+		},
 		{
 			desc: "translated keys",
 			args: []string{