diff --git a/dot/types/block_test.go b/dot/types/block_test.go
index aa2e4173eb..e73a4b505e 100644
--- a/dot/types/block_test.go
+++ b/dot/types/block_test.go
@@ -131,3 +131,14 @@ func TestMustEncodeBlock(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestScaleUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
+	block := NewBlock(*NewEmptyHeader(), Body{})
+	err := scale.Unmarshal(
+		[]byte{48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 4, 48, 48, 48, 48, 19, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48}, //nolint
+		&block,
+	)
+
+	require.EqualError(t, err,
+		"decoding struct: unmarshalling field at index 0: decoding struct: unmarshalling field at index 4: decoding struct: unmarshalling field at index 1: byte array length 3472328296227680304 exceeds max value of uint32") //nolint
+}
diff --git a/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go b/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go
index 49066d641e..5d12bff3e0 100644
--- a/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go
+++ b/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ func Test_decodeBranch(t *testing.T) {
 			nodeVariant:      branchVariant,
 			partialKeyLength: 1,
 			errWrapped:       ErrDecodeChildHash,
-			errMessage:       "cannot decode child hash: at index 10: reading byte: EOF",
+			errMessage:       "cannot decode child hash: at index 10: decoding uint: reading byte: EOF",
 		},
 		"success_for_branch_variant": {
 			reader: bytes.NewBuffer(
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ func Test_decodeBranch(t *testing.T) {
 			nodeVariant:      branchWithValueVariant,
 			partialKeyLength: 1,
 			errWrapped:       ErrDecodeStorageValue,
-			errMessage:       "cannot decode storage value: reading byte: EOF",
+			errMessage:       "cannot decode storage value: decoding uint: reading byte: EOF",
 		},
 		"success_for_branch_with_value": {
 			reader: bytes.NewBuffer(concatByteSlices([][]byte{
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ func Test_decodeLeaf(t *testing.T) {
 			variant:          leafVariant,
 			partialKeyLength: 1,
 			errWrapped:       ErrDecodeStorageValue,
-			errMessage:       "cannot decode storage value: unknown prefix for compact uint: 255",
+			errMessage:       "cannot decode storage value: decoding uint: unknown prefix for compact uint: 255",
 		},
 		"missing_storage_value_data": {
 			reader: bytes.NewBuffer([]byte{
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ func Test_decodeLeaf(t *testing.T) {
 			variant:          leafVariant,
 			partialKeyLength: 1,
 			errWrapped:       ErrDecodeStorageValue,
-			errMessage:       "cannot decode storage value: reading byte: EOF",
+			errMessage:       "cannot decode storage value: decoding uint: reading byte: EOF",
 		},
 		"empty_storage_value_data": {
 			reader: bytes.NewBuffer(concatByteSlices([][]byte{
diff --git a/lib/runtime/version_test.go b/lib/runtime/version_test.go
index 7525c1e08e..d553731795 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/version_test.go
+++ b/lib/runtime/version_test.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func Test_DecodeVersion(t *testing.T) {
 				{255, 255}, // error
 			}),
 			errWrapped: ErrDecodingVersionField,
-			errMessage: "decoding version field impl name: unknown prefix for compact uint: 255",
+			errMessage: "decoding version field impl name: decoding uint: unknown prefix for compact uint: 255",
 		},
 		// TODO add transaction version decode error once
 		// https://github.com/ChainSafe/gossamer/pull/2683
diff --git a/pkg/scale/decode.go b/pkg/scale/decode.go
index 15b8af8eb6..af52cf5cd7 100644
--- a/pkg/scale/decode.go
+++ b/pkg/scale/decode.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"math"
 	"math/big"
 	"reflect"
 )
@@ -475,6 +476,7 @@ func (ds *decodeState) decodeBool(dstv reflect.Value) (err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+// TODO: Should this be renamed to decodeCompactInt?
 // decodeUint will decode unsigned integer
 func (ds *decodeState) decodeUint(dstv reflect.Value) (err error) {
 	const maxUint32 = ^uint32(0)
@@ -491,8 +493,12 @@ func (ds *decodeState) decodeUint(dstv reflect.Value) (err error) {
 	var value uint64
 	switch mode {
 	case 0:
+		// 0b00: single-byte mode; upper six bits are the LE encoding of the value (valid only for
+		// values of 0-63).
 		value = uint64(prefix >> 2)
 	case 1:
+		// 0b01: two-byte mode: upper six bits and the following byte is the LE encoding of the
+		// value (valid only for values 64-(2**14-1))
 		buf, err := ds.ReadByte()
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("reading byte: %w", err)
@@ -502,6 +508,8 @@ func (ds *decodeState) decodeUint(dstv reflect.Value) (err error) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("%w: %d (%b)", ErrU16OutOfRange, value, value)
 		}
 	case 2:
+		// 0b10: four-byte mode: upper six bits and the following three bytes are the LE encoding
+		// of the value (valid only for values (2**14)-(2**30-1)).
 		buf := make([]byte, 3)
 		_, err = ds.Read(buf)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -512,6 +520,9 @@ func (ds *decodeState) decodeUint(dstv reflect.Value) (err error) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("%w: %d (%b)", ErrU32OutOfRange, value, value)
 		}
 	case 3:
+		// 0b11: Big-integer mode: The upper six bits are the number of bytes following, plus four.
+		// The value is contained, LE encoded, in the bytes following. The final (most significant)
+		// byte must be non-zero. Valid only for values (2**30)-(2**536-1).
 		byteLen := (prefix >> 2) + 4
 		buf := make([]byte, byteLen)
 		_, err = ds.Read(buf)
@@ -557,7 +568,7 @@ func (ds *decodeState) decodeLength() (l uint, err error) {
 	dstv := reflect.New(reflect.TypeOf(l))
 	err = ds.decodeUint(dstv.Elem())
 	if err != nil {
-		return
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("decoding uint: %w", err)
 	}
 	l = dstv.Elem().Interface().(uint)
 	return
@@ -570,6 +581,11 @@ func (ds *decodeState) decodeBytes(dstv reflect.Value) (err error) {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// bytes length in encoded as Compact<u32>, so it can't be more than math.MaxUint32
+	if length > math.MaxUint32 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("byte array length %d exceeds max value of uint32", length)
+	}
+
 	b := make([]byte, length)
 
 	if length > 0 {