diff --git a/lib/internal/buffer.js b/lib/internal/buffer.js
index 3a944a13de3031..42f4dc3fdc07a4 100644
--- a/lib/internal/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/internal/buffer.js
@@ -658,7 +658,7 @@ function writeU_Int16BE(buf, value, offset, min, max) {
 }
 
 function writeUInt16BE(value, offset = 0) {
-  return writeU_Int16BE(this, value, offset, 0, 0xffffffff);
+  return writeU_Int16BE(this, value, offset, 0, 0xffff);
 }
 
 function writeIntLE(value, offset = 0, byteLength) {
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-buffer-writeuint.js b/test/parallel/test-buffer-writeuint.js
index b0d49240dc6b90..346bb589a72b50 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-buffer-writeuint.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-buffer-writeuint.js
@@ -84,6 +84,18 @@ const assert = require('assert');
 
   data.writeUInt16BE(value, 0);
   assert.ok(data.equals(new Uint8Array([0xff, 0x80, 0x43, 0x23])));
+
+  value = 0xfffff;
+  ['writeUInt16BE', 'writeUInt16LE'].forEach((fn) => {
+    assert.throws(
+      () => data[fn](value, 0),
+      {
+        code: 'ERR_OUT_OF_RANGE',
+        message: 'The value of "value" is out of range. ' +
+                 `It must be >= 0 and <= 65535. Received ${value}`
+      }
+    );
+  });
 }
 
 // Test 32 bit