diff --git a/src/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/MerkleBlockPayload.cs b/src/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/MerkleBlockPayload.cs
index cf2dcba2d9..8a735587cd 100644
--- a/src/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/MerkleBlockPayload.cs
+++ b/src/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/MerkleBlockPayload.cs
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ public static MerkleBlockPayload Create(Block block, BitArray flags)
         public override void Deserialize(BinaryReader reader)
         {
             base.Deserialize(reader);
-            ContentCount = (int)reader.ReadVarInt(int.MaxValue);
-            Hashes = reader.ReadSerializableArray<UInt256>();
-            Flags = reader.ReadVarBytes();
+            ContentCount = (int)reader.ReadVarInt(Block.MaxTransactionsPerBlock + 1);
+            Hashes = reader.ReadSerializableArray<UInt256>(ContentCount);
+            Flags = reader.ReadVarBytes((ContentCount + 7) / 8);
         }
 
         public override void Serialize(BinaryWriter writer)