diff --git a/lib/http.c b/lib/http.c
index 1a313b4fb..e080ae513 100644
--- a/lib/http.c
+++ b/lib/http.c
@@ -3014,6 +3014,8 @@ CURLcode Curl_http_readwrite_headers(struct Curl_easy *data,
 {
   CURLcode result;
   struct SingleRequest *k = &data->req;
+  ssize_t onread = *nread;
+  char *ostr = k->str;
 
   /* header line within buffer loop */
   do {
@@ -3078,7 +3080,9 @@ CURLcode Curl_http_readwrite_headers(struct Curl_easy *data,
         else {
           /* this was all we read so it's all a bad header */
           k->badheader = HEADER_ALLBAD;
-          *nread = (ssize_t)rest_length;
+          *nread = onread;
+          k->str = ostr;
+          return CURLE_OK;
         }
         break;
       }