diff --git a/src/node_zlib.cc b/src/node_zlib.cc
index 067e8d96a0ba5c..01f713afd728b8 100644
--- a/src/node_zlib.cc
+++ b/src/node_zlib.cc
@@ -422,6 +422,16 @@ class ZCtx : public AsyncWrap {
 
   // just pull the ints out of the args and call the other Init
   static void Init(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
+    // Refs: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/16649
+    // Refs: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/14161
+    if (args.Length() == 5) {
+      fprintf(stderr,
+          "WARNING: You are likely using a version of node-tar or npm that "
+          "is incompatible with this version of Node.js.\nPlease use "
+          "either the version of npm that is bundled with Node.js, or "
+          "a version of npm (> 5.5.1 or < 5.4.0) or node-tar (> 4.0.1) "
+          "that is compatible with Node.js 9 and above.\n");
+    }
     CHECK(args.Length() == 7 &&
       "init(windowBits, level, memLevel, strategy, writeResult, writeCallback,"
       " dictionary)");
diff --git a/test/abort/test-zlib-invalid-internals-usage.js b/test/abort/test-zlib-invalid-internals-usage.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..c076c7df5e4410
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/abort/test-zlib-invalid-internals-usage.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+'use strict';
+require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const os = require('os');
+const cp = require('child_process');
+
+if (process.argv[2] === 'child') {
+  // This is the heart of the test.
+  new (process.binding('zlib').Zlib)(0).init(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
+} else {
+  const child = cp.spawnSync(`${process.execPath}`, [`${__filename}`, 'child']);
+
+  assert.strictEqual(child.stdout.toString(), '');
+  assert.ok(child.stderr.includes(
+    'WARNING: You are likely using a version of node-tar or npm that ' +
+    'is incompatible with this version of Node.js.' + os.EOL +
+    'Please use either the version of npm that is bundled with Node.js, or ' +
+    'a version of npm (> 5.5.1 or < 5.4.0) or node-tar (> 4.0.1) that is ' +
+    'compatible with Node.js 9 and above.' + os.EOL));
+}