diff --git a/lib/tls.js b/lib/tls.js
index 1ff0d5d67..7bf0ca188 100644
--- a/lib/tls.js
+++ b/lib/tls.js
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ function CryptoStream(pair, options) {
   this._pendingEncoding = '';
   this._pendingCallback = null;
   this._doneFlag = false;
+  this._retryAfterPartial = false;
   this._resumingSession = false;
   this._reading = true;
   this._destroyed = false;
@@ -361,7 +362,13 @@ CryptoStream.prototype._write = function write(data, encoding, cb) {
 
       return cb(null);
     }
-    assert(written === 0 || written === -1);
+    if (written !== 0 && written !== -1) {
+      assert(!this._retryAfterPartial);
+      this._retryAfterPartial = true;
+      this._write(data.slice(written), encoding, cb);
+      this._retryAfterPartial = false;
+      return;
+    }
   } else {
     debug('cleartext.write queue is full');
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-tls-hello-parser-failure.js b/test/simple/test-tls-hello-parser-failure.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f7e1f741f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/simple/test-tls-hello-parser-failure.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// Copyright Joyent, Inc. and other Node contributors.
+//
+// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+// copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+// "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+// without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+// distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
+// persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
+// following conditions:
+//
+// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+// in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+//
+// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+// OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+// MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN
+// NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
+// DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
+// OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
+// USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+var common = require('../common');
+var tls = require('tls');
+var net = require('net');
+var fs = require('fs');
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+var options = {
+  key: fs.readFileSync(common.fixturesDir + '/test_key.pem'),
+  cert: fs.readFileSync(common.fixturesDir + '/test_cert.pem')
+};
+
+var server = tls.createServer(options, function(c) {
+
+}).listen(common.PORT, function() {
+  var client = net.connect(common.PORT, function() {
+    var bonkers = new Buffer(1024 * 1024);
+    bonkers.fill(42);
+    client.end(bonkers);
+  });
+
+  var once = false;
+  client.on('error', function() {
+    if (!once) {
+      once = true;
+      client.destroy();
+      server.close();
+    }
+  });
+});