diff --git a/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef.go b/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef.go
index c4958e500..effb07ab6 100644
--- a/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef.go
+++ b/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef.go
@@ -203,6 +203,10 @@ func (n *File) DecodeBinary(r *io.BinReader) {
 		return
 	}
 	n.Script = r.ReadVarBytes(MaxScriptLength)
+	if len(n.Script) == 0 {
+		r.Err = errors.New("empty script")
+		return
+	}
 	if !hash.Hash160(n.Script).Equals(n.Header.ScriptHash) {
 		r.Err = errors.New("script hashes mismatch")
 		return
diff --git a/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef_test.go b/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef_test.go
index 01ecc2b00..229d786a2 100644
--- a/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef_test.go
+++ b/pkg/smartcontract/nef/nef_test.go
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ func TestEncodeDecodeBinary(t *testing.T) {
 		checkDecodeError(t, expected)
 	})
 
+	t.Run("zero-length script", func(t *testing.T) {
+		expected.Script = make([]byte, 0)
+		expected.Header.ScriptHash = hash.Hash160(expected.Script)
+		expected.Checksum = expected.Header.CalculateChecksum()
+		checkDecodeError(t, expected)
+	})
+
 	t.Run("invalid script length", func(t *testing.T) {
 		newScript := make([]byte, MaxScriptLength+1)
 		expected.Script = newScript