diff --git a/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http1xServerResponse.java b/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http1xServerResponse.java
index 0f9e7e5156d..7a2fed16a4f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http1xServerResponse.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http1xServerResponse.java
@@ -559,6 +559,19 @@ private void doSendFile(String filename, long offset, long length, Handler<Async
       }
 
       long contentLength = Math.min(length, file.length() - offset);
+
+      // fail early before status code/headers are written to the response
+      if (contentLength < 0) {
+        if (resultHandler != null) {
+          ContextInternal ctx = vertx.getOrCreateContext();
+          Exception exception = new IllegalArgumentException("offset : " + offset + " is larger than the requested file length : " + file.length());
+          ctx.runOnContext((v) -> resultHandler.handle(Future.failedFuture(exception)));
+        } else {
+          log.error("Invalid offset: " + offset);
+        }
+        return;
+      }
+
       bytesWritten = contentLength;
       if (!headers.contains(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE)) {
         String contentType = MimeMapping.getMimeTypeForFilename(filename);
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http2ServerResponse.java b/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http2ServerResponse.java
index c4245336e2f..71c6d075210 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http2ServerResponse.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/Http2ServerResponse.java
@@ -619,7 +619,16 @@ public HttpServerResponse sendFile(String filename, long offset, long length, Ha
     HttpUtils.resolveFile(stream.vertx, filename, offset, length, ar -> {
       if (ar.succeeded()) {
         AsyncFile file = ar.result();
-        long contentLength = Math.min(length, file.getReadLength());
+        long fileLength = file.getReadLength();
+        long contentLength = Math.min(length, fileLength);
+
+        // fail early before status code/headers are written to the response
+        if (contentLength < 0) {
+          Exception exception = new IllegalArgumentException("offset : " + offset + " is larger than the requested file length : " + fileLength);
+          h.handle(Future.failedFuture(exception));
+          return;
+        }
+
         if (headers.get(HttpHeaderNames.CONTENT_LENGTH) == null) {
           putHeader(HttpHeaderNames.CONTENT_LENGTH, String.valueOf(contentLength));
         }
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ServerTest.java b/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ServerTest.java
index e8253128739..ef62504b770 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ServerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ServerTest.java
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@
 import io.vertx.core.buffer.Buffer;
 import io.vertx.core.http.impl.Http1xOrH2CHandler;
 import io.vertx.core.http.impl.HttpUtils;
-import io.vertx.core.http.impl.headers.HeadersMultiMap;
 import io.vertx.core.impl.Utils;
 import io.vertx.core.streams.ReadStream;
 import io.vertx.core.streams.WriteStream;
@@ -74,9 +73,7 @@
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
-import java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Base64;
 import java.util.Collections;
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/HttpTest.java b/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/HttpTest.java
index 9f369da2332..6aee9d8683c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/HttpTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/vertx/core/http/HttpTest.java
@@ -2167,6 +2167,64 @@ public void testSendRangeFileFromClasspath() {
     await();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSendZeroRangeFileFromClasspath() {
+    server.requestHandler(res -> {
+      // hosts_config.txt is 23 bytes
+      res.response().sendFile("hosts_config.txt", 23, 0);
+    }).listen(testAddress, onSuccess(res -> {
+      client.request(requestOptions)
+        .compose(HttpClientRequest::send)
+        .compose(resp -> {
+          assertEquals(String.valueOf(0), resp.headers().get("Content-Length"));
+          return resp.body();
+        })
+        .onComplete(onSuccess(body -> {
+          assertEquals("", body.toString());
+          assertEquals(0, body.toString().length());
+          testComplete();
+        }));
+    }));
+    await();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testSendOffsetIsHigherThanFileLengthForFileFromClasspath() {
+    server.requestHandler(res -> {
+      try {
+        // hosts_config.txt is 23 bytes
+        res.response().sendFile("hosts_config.txt", 33, 10)
+          .onFailure(throwable -> {
+            try {
+              res.response().setStatusCode(500).end();
+            } catch (IllegalStateException illegalStateException) {
+              // should not reach here, the response should not be sent if the offset is negative
+              fail(illegalStateException);
+            }
+          });
+      } catch (Exception ex) {
+        // a route.route().failureHandler() would handle failures during
+        // handling of the request. Here we simulate that scenario, and during
+        // handling of failure we would like to set a status code for example.
+        try {
+          res.response().setStatusCode(505).end();
+          fail("Should not reach here, failures should be handled by res.response().onFailure() above");
+        } catch (IllegalStateException exceptionWhenTheResponseIsAlreadySent) {
+          // should not reach here, the response should not be sent if the offset is negative
+          fail(exceptionWhenTheResponseIsAlreadySent);
+        }
+      }
+    }).listen(testAddress, onSuccess(res -> {
+      client.request(requestOptions)
+        .compose(HttpClientRequest::send)
+        .onComplete(onSuccess(response -> {
+          assertEquals(500, response.statusCode());
+          testComplete();
+        }));
+    }));
+    await();
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void test100ContinueHandledAutomatically() {
     Buffer toSend = TestUtils.randomBuffer(1000);