diff --git a/internal/era/era.go b/internal/era/era.go
index bb9b202464..38bebfced0 100644
--- a/internal/era/era.go
+++ b/internal/era/era.go
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func (e *Era) InitialTD() (*big.Int, error) {
 	if r, n, err = newSnappyReader(e.s, TypeCompressedHeader, off); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if err := rlp.Decode(r, header); err != nil {
+	if err := rlp.Decode(r, &header); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	off += n
@@ -199,7 +199,8 @@ func (e *Era) InitialTD() (*big.Int, error) {
 	if r, _, err = e.s.ReaderAt(TypeTotalDifficulty, off); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if err := rlp.Decode(r, rawTd); err != nil {
+	rawTd, err = io.ReadAll(r)
+	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	td := new(big.Int).SetBytes(reverseOrder(rawTd))
diff --git a/internal/era/iterator.go b/internal/era/iterator.go
index 291d55a27d..e74a8154b1 100644
--- a/internal/era/iterator.go
+++ b/internal/era/iterator.go
@@ -103,8 +103,8 @@ func (it *Iterator) BlockAndReceipts() (*types.Block, types.Receipts, error) {
 // TotalDifficulty returns the total difficulty for the iterator's current
 // position.
 func (it *Iterator) TotalDifficulty() (*big.Int, error) {
-	var td []byte
-	if err := rlp.Decode(it.inner.TotalDifficulty, td); err != nil {
+	td, err := io.ReadAll(it.inner.TotalDifficulty)
+	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	return new(big.Int).SetBytes(reverseOrder(td)), nil