diff --git a/trie/node.go b/trie/node.go
index d9903476b9..5dc3f0fc09 100644
--- a/trie/node.go
+++ b/trie/node.go
@@ -215,8 +215,8 @@ func decodeRef(buf []byte) (node, []byte, error) {
 	case kind == rlp.List:
 		// 'embedded' Node reference. The encoding must be smaller
 		// than a hash in order to be valid.
-		if size := len(buf) - len(rest); size > hashLen {
-			err := fmt.Errorf("oversized embedded Node (size is %d bytes, want size < %d)", size, hashLen)
+		if size := len(buf) - len(rest); size >= hashLen {
+			err := fmt.Errorf("oversized embedded node (size is %d bytes, want size < %d)", size, hashLen)
 			return nil, buf, err
 		}
 		n, err := decodeNode(nil, buf)