diff --git a/src/pkg/compress/flate/inflate.go b/src/pkg/compress/flate/inflate.go
index 3f2042bfe9..394c32fa3a 100644
--- a/src/pkg/compress/flate/inflate.go
+++ b/src/pkg/compress/flate/inflate.go
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@ import (
 const (
 	maxCodeLen = 16    // max length of Huffman code
 	maxHist    = 32768 // max history required
-	maxLit     = 286
-	maxDist    = 32
-	numCodes   = 19 // number of codes in Huffman meta-code
+	// The next three numbers come from the RFC, section 3.2.7.
+	maxLit   = 286
+	maxDist  = 32
+	numCodes = 19 // number of codes in Huffman meta-code
 )
 
 // A CorruptInputError reports the presence of corrupt input at a given offset.
@@ -306,10 +307,15 @@ func (f *decompressor) readHuffman() error {
 		}
 	}
 	nlit := int(f.b&0x1F) + 257
+	if nlit > maxLit {
+		return CorruptInputError(f.roffset)
+	}
 	f.b >>= 5
 	ndist := int(f.b&0x1F) + 1
+	// maxDist is 32, so ndist is always valid.
 	f.b >>= 5
 	nclen := int(f.b&0xF) + 4
+	// numCodes is 19, so nclen is always valid.
 	f.b >>= 4
 	f.nb -= 5 + 5 + 4
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/compress/flate/reader_test.go b/src/pkg/compress/flate/reader_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..54ed788dbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pkg/compress/flate/reader_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+// Copyright 2012 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package flate
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestNlitOutOfRange(t *testing.T) {
+	// Trying to decode this bogus flate data, which has a Huffman table
+	// with nlit=288, should not panic.
+	io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, NewReader(strings.NewReader(
+		"\xfc\xfe\x36\xe7\x5e\x1c\xef\xb3\x55\x58\x77\xb6\x56\xb5\x43\xf4"+
+			"\x6f\xf2\xd2\xe6\x3d\x99\xa0\x85\x8c\x48\xeb\xf8\xda\x83\x04\x2a"+
+			"\x75\xc4\xf8\x0f\x12\x11\xb9\xb4\x4b\x09\xa0\xbe\x8b\x91\x4c")))
+}
+
+const (
+	digits = iota
+	twain
+)
+
+var testfiles = []string{
+	// Digits is the digits of the irrational number e. Its decimal representation
+	// does not repeat, but there are only 10 posible digits, so it should be
+	// reasonably compressible.
+	digits: "../testdata/e.txt",
+	// Twain is Project Gutenberg's edition of Mark Twain's classic English novel.
+	twain: "../testdata/Mark.Twain-Tom.Sawyer.txt",
+}
+
+func benchmarkDecode(b *testing.B, testfile, level, n int) {
+	b.StopTimer()
+	b.SetBytes(int64(n))
+	buf0, err := ioutil.ReadFile(testfiles[testfile])
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(buf0) == 0 {
+		b.Fatalf("test file %q has no data", testfiles[testfile])
+	}
+	compressed := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	w, err := NewWriter(compressed, level)
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < n; i += len(buf0) {
+		if len(buf0) > n-i {
+			buf0 = buf0[:n-i]
+		}
+		io.Copy(w, bytes.NewBuffer(buf0))
+	}
+	w.Close()
+	buf1 := compressed.Bytes()
+	buf0, compressed, w = nil, nil, nil
+	runtime.GC()
+	b.StartTimer()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, NewReader(bytes.NewBuffer(buf1)))
+	}
+}
+
+// These short names are so that gofmt doesn't break the BenchmarkXxx function
+// bodies below over multiple lines.
+const (
+	speed    = BestSpeed
+	default_ = DefaultCompression
+	compress = BestCompression
+)
+
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsSpeed1e4(b *testing.B)    { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, speed, 1e4) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsSpeed1e5(b *testing.B)    { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, speed, 1e5) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsSpeed1e6(b *testing.B)    { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, speed, 1e6) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsDefault1e4(b *testing.B)  { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, default_, 1e4) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsDefault1e5(b *testing.B)  { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, default_, 1e5) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsDefault1e6(b *testing.B)  { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, default_, 1e6) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsCompress1e4(b *testing.B) { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, compress, 1e4) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsCompress1e5(b *testing.B) { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, compress, 1e5) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeDigitsCompress1e6(b *testing.B) { benchmarkDecode(b, digits, compress, 1e6) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainSpeed1e4(b *testing.B)     { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, speed, 1e4) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainSpeed1e5(b *testing.B)     { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, speed, 1e5) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainSpeed1e6(b *testing.B)     { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, speed, 1e6) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainDefault1e4(b *testing.B)   { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, default_, 1e4) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainDefault1e5(b *testing.B)   { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, default_, 1e5) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainDefault1e6(b *testing.B)   { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, default_, 1e6) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainCompress1e4(b *testing.B)  { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, compress, 1e4) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainCompress1e5(b *testing.B)  { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, compress, 1e5) }
+func BenchmarkDecodeTwainCompress1e6(b *testing.B)  { benchmarkDecode(b, twain, compress, 1e6) }