diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala
index a64b210..1c3bfdd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ class KafkaConfig private (val props: VerifiableProperties) extends ZKConfig(pro
   val replicaSocketReceiveBufferBytes = props.getInt(ReplicaSocketReceiveBufferBytesProp, ConsumerConfig.SocketBufferSize)
 
   /* the number of byes of messages to attempt to fetch */
-  val replicaFetchMaxBytes = props.getInt(ReplicaFetchMaxBytesProp, ConsumerConfig.FetchSize)
+  val replicaFetchMaxBytes = props.getIntInRange(ReplicaFetchMaxBytesProp, ConsumerConfig.FetchSize, (messageMaxBytes, Int.MaxValue))
 
   /* max wait time for each fetcher request issued by follower replicas*/
   val replicaFetchWaitMaxMs = props.getInt(ReplicaFetchWaitMaxMsProp, 500)