diff --git a/std/uni.d b/std/uni.d
index 04587820a..6124f3266 100644
--- a/std/uni.d
+++ b/std/uni.d
@@ -4583,7 +4583,6 @@ template Utf8Matcher()
     
     char truncate()(char ch) pure @safe
     {
-        assert((ch & 0b1100_0000) == 0x80);
         ch -= 0x80;
         return ch < 0x40 ? ch : (badEncoding(), cast(char)0);
     }
@@ -4632,7 +4631,10 @@ template Utf8Matcher()
                     (ch & ~leadMask!%d) == encMask!(%d)
                         ? lookup!(%d, mode)(inp) : 
                 }, size, size, size);
-            code ~= "false";
+            static if (Sizes.length == 4) //covers all code unit cases
+                code ~= "(badEncoding(), false)";
+            else
+                code ~= "false"; //may be just fine but not covered
             return code;
         }
         enum dispatch = genDispatch();
@@ -4727,6 +4729,28 @@ template Utf8Matcher()
             {
                 needle[i] = truncate(inp[i]);
             }
+            //overlong encoding checks
+            static if(size == 2)
+            {
+                //0x80-0x7FF
+                //got 6 bits in needle[1], must use at least 8 bits
+                //must use at least 2 bits in needle[1]
+                if(needle[0] < 2) badEncoding();
+            }
+            else static if(size == 3)
+            {
+                //0x800-0xFFFF
+                //got 6 bits in needle[2], must use at least 12bits
+                //must use 6 bits in needle[1] or anything in needle[0]
+                if(needle[0] == 0 && needle[1] < 0x20) badEncoding();
+            }
+            else static if(size == 4)
+            {
+                //0x800-0xFFFF
+                //got 2x6=12 bits in needle[2..3] must use at least 17bits
+                //must use 5 bits (or above) in needle[1] or anything in needle[0]
+                if(needle[0] == 0 && needle[1] < 0x10) badEncoding();
+            }
             static if(mode == Mode.alwaysSkip)
             {
                 inp.popFrontN(size);
@@ -4908,6 +4932,8 @@ template Utf16Matcher()
             //not a high surrogate
             if(x > 0x3FF)
             {
+                //low surrogate
+                if(x <= 0x7FF) badEncoding();
                 static if(sizeFlags & 1)
                 {
                     auto ch = inp[0];
@@ -5156,6 +5182,35 @@ package auto units(C)(C[] s)
     }
 }
 
+// cover decode fail cases of Matcher
+unittest
+{
+    import std.string : format;
+    auto utf16 = utfMatcher!wchar(unicode.L);
+    auto utf8 = utfMatcher!char(unicode.L);
+    //decode failure cases UTF-8
+    alias fails8 = TypeTuple!("\xC1", "\x80\x00","\xC0\x00", "\xCF\x79",
+        "\xFF\x00\0x00\0x00\x00", "\xC0\0x80\0x80\x80", "\x80\0x00\0x00\x00",
+        "\xCF\x00\0x00\0x00\x00");
+    foreach(msg; fails8){
+        assert(collectException((){
+            auto s = msg;
+            import std.utf;
+            size_t idx = 0;
+            //decode(s, idx);
+            utf8.test(s);
+        }()), format("%( %2x %)", cast(ubyte[])msg));
+    }
+    //decode failure cases UTF-16
+    alias fails16 = TypeTuple!([0xD811], [0xDC02]);
+    foreach(msg; fails16){
+        assert(collectException((){
+            auto s = msg.map!(x => cast(wchar)x);
+            utf16.test(s);
+        }()));
+    }
+}
+
 /++
     Convenience function to construct optimal configurations for
     packed Trie from any $(D set) of $(CODEPOINTS).