diff --git a/wal/decoder.go b/wal/decoder.go
index f2f01fd881c..d007fe1c748 100644
--- a/wal/decoder.go
+++ b/wal/decoder.go
@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@ func (d *decoder) decode(rec *walpb.Record) error {
 	return d.decodeRecord(rec)
 }
 
+// raft max message size is set to 1 MB in etcd server
+// assume projects set reasonable message size limit,
+// thus entry size should never exceed 10 MB
+const maxWALEntrySizeLimit = int64(10 * 1024 * 1024)
+
 func (d *decoder) decodeRecord(rec *walpb.Record) error {
 	if len(d.brs) == 0 {
 		return io.EOF
@@ -79,6 +84,9 @@ func (d *decoder) decodeRecord(rec *walpb.Record) error {
 	}
 
 	recBytes, padBytes := decodeFrameSize(l)
+	if recBytes >= maxWALEntrySizeLimit-padBytes {
+		return ErrMaxWALEntrySizeLimitExceeded
+	}
 
 	data := make([]byte, recBytes+padBytes)
 	if _, err = io.ReadFull(d.brs[0], data); err != nil {
diff --git a/wal/wal.go b/wal/wal.go
index 0ca9946ebe8..1aced50bdd1 100644
--- a/wal/wal.go
+++ b/wal/wal.go
@@ -56,13 +56,15 @@ var (
 
 	plog = capnslog.NewPackageLogger("go.etcd.io/etcd", "wal")
 
-	ErrMetadataConflict = errors.New("wal: conflicting metadata found")
-	ErrFileNotFound     = errors.New("wal: file not found")
-	ErrCRCMismatch      = errors.New("wal: crc mismatch")
-	ErrSnapshotMismatch = errors.New("wal: snapshot mismatch")
-	ErrSnapshotNotFound = errors.New("wal: snapshot not found")
-	ErrDecoderNotFound  = errors.New("wal: decoder not found")
-	crcTable            = crc32.MakeTable(crc32.Castagnoli)
+	ErrMetadataConflict             = errors.New("wal: conflicting metadata found")
+	ErrFileNotFound                 = errors.New("wal: file not found")
+	ErrCRCMismatch                  = errors.New("wal: crc mismatch")
+	ErrSnapshotMismatch             = errors.New("wal: snapshot mismatch")
+	ErrSnapshotNotFound             = errors.New("wal: snapshot not found")
+	ErrSliceOutOfRange              = errors.New("wal: slice bounds out of range")
+	ErrMaxWALEntrySizeLimitExceeded = errors.New("wal: max entry size limit exceeded")
+	ErrDecoderNotFound              = errors.New("wal: decoder not found")
+	crcTable                        = crc32.MakeTable(crc32.Castagnoli)
 )
 
 // WAL is a logical representation of the stable storage.
@@ -447,8 +449,15 @@ func (w *WAL) ReadAll() (metadata []byte, state raftpb.HardState, ents []raftpb.
 		switch rec.Type {
 		case entryType:
 			e := mustUnmarshalEntry(rec.Data)
+			// 0 <= e.Index-w.start.Index - 1 < len(ents)
 			if e.Index > w.start.Index {
-				ents = append(ents[:e.Index-w.start.Index-1], e)
+				// prevent "panic: runtime error: slice bounds out of range [:13038096702221461992] with capacity 0"
+				up := e.Index - w.start.Index - 1
+				if up > uint64(len(ents)) {
+					// return error before append call causes runtime panic
+					return nil, state, nil, ErrSliceOutOfRange
+				}
+				ents = append(ents[:up], e)
 			}
 			w.enti = e.Index
 
diff --git a/wal/wal_test.go b/wal/wal_test.go
index 254ddfbc376..9bdec2b14e5 100644
--- a/wal/wal_test.go
+++ b/wal/wal_test.go
@@ -645,6 +645,35 @@ func TestOpenForRead(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestOpenWithMaxIndex(t *testing.T) {
+	p, err := ioutil.TempDir(os.TempDir(), "waltest")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(p)
+	// create WAL
+	w, err := Create(zap.NewExample(), p, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer w.Close()
+
+	es := []raftpb.Entry{{Index: uint64(math.MaxInt64)}}
+	if err = w.Save(raftpb.HardState{}, es); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	w.Close()
+
+	w, err = Open(zap.NewExample(), p, walpb.Snapshot{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	_, _, _, err = w.ReadAll()
+	if err == nil || err != ErrSliceOutOfRange {
+		t.Fatalf("err = %v, want ErrSliceOutOfRange", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSaveEmpty(t *testing.T) {
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
 	var est raftpb.HardState