diff --git a/qkc/serialize/bytebuffer.go b/qkc/serialize/bytebuffer.go
index 3356747882..40286bf9d6 100644
--- a/qkc/serialize/bytebuffer.go
+++ b/qkc/serialize/bytebuffer.go
@@ -120,3 +120,10 @@ func (bb *ByteBuffer) GetVarBytes(byteSizeOfSliceLen int) ([]byte, error) {
 func (bb *ByteBuffer) Remaining() int {
 	return bb.size - bb.position
 }
+
+// ReadRemaining returns all unread bytes in the buffer.
+// Used by types that need to consume the rest of the buffer (e.g. opaque
+// placeholder types for forward-compatible deserialization).
+func (bb *ByteBuffer) ReadRemaining() ([]byte, error) {
+	return bb.getBytes(bb.Remaining())
+}