diff --git a/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/MessagePacker.cs b/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/MessagePacker.cs
index 7b2d2d28d..25d858f8d 100644
--- a/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/MessagePacker.cs
+++ b/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/MessagePacker.cs
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ public static class MessagePacker
     {
         static readonly ILogger logger = LogFactory.GetLogger(typeof(MessagePacker));
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// this is the minimum size of a message that mirror will accept
+        /// </summary>
+        internal const int HeaderSize = sizeof(ushort);
+
         public static int GetId<T>() where T : struct, NetworkMessage
         {
             // paul: 16 bits is enough to avoid collisions
diff --git a/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/NetworkConnection.cs b/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/NetworkConnection.cs
index 1b96db8e6..ac746bfff 100644
--- a/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/NetworkConnection.cs
+++ b/Assets/Mirror/Runtime/NetworkConnection.cs
@@ -233,9 +233,10 @@ public bool InvokeHandler<T>(T msg, int channelId)
         /// <param name="buffer">The data received.</param>
         internal void TransportReceive(ArraySegment<byte> buffer, int channelId)
         {
-            if (buffer.Count == 0)
+            if (buffer.Count < MessagePacker.HeaderSize)
             {
-                logger.LogError($"ConnectionRecv {this} Message was empty");
+                logger.LogError($"ConnectionRecv {this} Message was too short (messages should start with message id)");
+                Disconnect();
                 return;
             }
 
diff --git a/Assets/Mirror/Tests/Editor/MessagePackerTest.cs b/Assets/Mirror/Tests/Editor/MessagePackerTest.cs
index 701495672..ee5a44cbb 100644
--- a/Assets/Mirror/Tests/Editor/MessagePackerTest.cs
+++ b/Assets/Mirror/Tests/Editor/MessagePackerTest.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ namespace Mirror.Tests
     [TestFixture]
     public class MessagePackerTest
     {
+        public struct EmptyMessage : NetworkMessage { }
+
         // helper function to pack message into a simple byte[]
         public static byte[] PackToByteArray<T>(T message)
             where T : struct, NetworkMessage
@@ -113,5 +115,16 @@ public void UnpackInvalidMessage()
             Assert.That(result2, Is.EqualTo(false));
             Assert.That(msgType2, Is.EqualTo(0));
         }
+
+        [Test]
+        public void MessageIdIsCorrectLength()
+        {
+            NetworkWriter writer = new NetworkWriter();
+            MessagePacker.Pack(new EmptyMessage(), writer);
+
+            ArraySegment<byte> segment = writer.ToArraySegment();
+
+            Assert.That(segment.Count, Is.EqualTo(MessagePacker.HeaderSize), "Empty message should have same size as HeaderSize");
+        }
     }
 }