diff --git a/eth/protocols/snap/handler.go b/eth/protocols/snap/handler.go
index 26545f2960..570179fd3b 100644
--- a/eth/protocols/snap/handler.go
+++ b/eth/protocols/snap/handler.go
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ const (
 	// number is there to limit the number of disk lookups.
 	maxTrieNodeLookups = 1024
 
+	// maxCompactTriePathLen is the maximum length of a compact-encoded trie node path.
+	// Trie keys are at most 32 bytes (64 nibbles); compact encoding adds at most one flag byte.
+	maxCompactTriePathLen = 33
+
 	// maxAccessListLookups is the maximum number of BALs to server. This number
 	// is there to limit the number of disk lookups.
 	maxAccessListLookups = 1024
diff --git a/eth/protocols/snap/handlers.go b/eth/protocols/snap/handlers.go
index 5a5733bdb4..20916bb5bf 100644
--- a/eth/protocols/snap/handlers.go
+++ b/eth/protocols/snap/handlers.go
@@ -469,6 +469,12 @@ func ServiceGetTrieNodesQuery(chain *core.BlockChain, req *GetTrieNodesPacket) (
 			if accKey == nil {
 				return nodes, fmt.Errorf("%w: invalid account node request", errBadRequest)
 			}
+			if len(accKey) > maxCompactTriePathLen {
+				// Structurally invalid path; avoid expensive trie traversal. The missing
+				// node is represented by a nil blob, which hashes to the empty trie node.
+				nodes = append(nodes, nil)
+				break
+			}
 			blob, resolved, err := accTrie.GetNode(accKey)
 			loads += resolved // always account database reads, even for failures
 			if err != nil {
@@ -513,6 +519,10 @@ func ServiceGetTrieNodesQuery(chain *core.BlockChain, req *GetTrieNodesPacket) (
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: invalid storage key: %v", errBadRequest, err)
 				}
+				if len(path) > maxCompactTriePathLen {
+					nodes = append(nodes, nil)
+					continue
+				}
 				blob, resolved, err := stTrie.GetNode(path)
 				loads += resolved // always account database reads, even for failures
 				if err != nil {
diff --git a/eth/protocols/snap/handlers_trienodes_test.go b/eth/protocols/snap/handlers_trienodes_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..284f06fdcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/protocols/snap/handlers_trienodes_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// Copyright 2026 The go-ethereum Authors
+// This file is part of the go-ethereum library.
+//
+// The go-ethereum library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// The go-ethereum library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+// GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+// along with the go-ethereum library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package snap
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/consensus/beacon"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/consensus/ethash"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core/rawdb"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core/types"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/crypto"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/params"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/rlp"
+)
+
+func testTrieNodeChain(t *testing.T) *core.BlockChain {
+	t.Helper()
+	gspec := &core.Genesis{Config: params.MergedTestChainConfig}
+	db := rawdb.NewMemoryDatabase()
+	engine := beacon.New(ethash.NewFaker())
+	_, blocks, _ := core.GenerateChainWithGenesis(gspec, engine, 1, nil)
+	bc, err := core.NewBlockChain(db, gspec, engine, &core.BlockChainConfig{
+		StateScheme:   rawdb.PathScheme,
+		TrieTimeLimit: 5 * time.Minute,
+		NoPrefetch:    true,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := bc.InsertChain(blocks); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return bc
+}
+
+// TestServiceGetTrieNodesQueryOversizedPath ensures structurally invalid trie paths
+// do not trigger expensive trie lookups while preserving the empty-node response
+// expected by the snap protocol test suite (see issue #34853).
+func TestServiceGetTrieNodesQueryOversizedPath(t *testing.T) {
+	bc := testTrieNodeChain(t)
+	defer bc.Stop()
+
+	longPath := make([]byte, 54)
+	for i := range longPath {
+		longPath[i] = byte(i)
+	}
+	paths, err := rlp.EncodeToRawList([]TrieNodePathSet{{longPath}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	req := &GetTrieNodesPacket{
+		Root:  bc.CurrentBlock().Root,
+		Paths: paths,
+		Bytes: 5000,
+	}
+	nodes, err := ServiceGetTrieNodesQuery(bc, req)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(nodes) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("got %d nodes, want 1", len(nodes))
+	}
+	if hash := crypto.Keccak256Hash(nodes[0]); hash != types.EmptyCodeHash {
+		t.Fatalf("got node hash %s, want %s", hash, types.EmptyCodeHash)
+	}
+}