diff --git a/src/transformers/generation_utils.py b/src/transformers/generation_utils.py
index 086ad26992fefd..1d8cb78e6f1d5a 100644
--- a/src/transformers/generation_utils.py
+++ b/src/transformers/generation_utils.py
@@ -1687,7 +1687,7 @@ def beam_search(
         # init values
         logits_processor = logits_processor if logits_processor is not None else LogitsProcessorList()
         stopping_criteria = stopping_criteria if stopping_criteria is not None else StoppingCriteriaList()
-        max_length = max_length if max_length is not None else self.config.max_length
+        max_length = max_length if max_length is not None else beam_scorer.max_length
         validate_stopping_criteria(stopping_criteria, max_length)
         pad_token_id = pad_token_id if pad_token_id is not None else self.config.pad_token_id
         eos_token_id = eos_token_id if eos_token_id is not None else self.config.eos_token_id
@@ -2222,7 +2222,7 @@ def group_beam_search(
         # init values
         logits_processor = logits_processor if logits_processor is not None else LogitsProcessorList()
         stopping_criteria = stopping_criteria if stopping_criteria is not None else StoppingCriteriaList()
-        max_length = max_length if max_length is not None else self.config.max_length
+        max_length = max_length if max_length is not None else beam_scorer.max_length
         validate_stopping_criteria(stopping_criteria, max_length)
         pad_token_id = pad_token_id if pad_token_id is not None else self.config.pad_token_id
         eos_token_id = eos_token_id if eos_token_id is not None else self.config.eos_token_id