diff --git a/doc/api/crypto.md b/doc/api/crypto.md
index ea38da218a119f..9f93d8f5789956 100644
--- a/doc/api/crypto.md
+++ b/doc/api/crypto.md
@@ -421,6 +421,9 @@ The `decipher.setAAD()` method must be called before [`decipher.update()`][].
 <!-- YAML
 added: v1.0.0
 changes:
+  - version: REPLACEME
+    pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/17825
+    description: This method now throws if the GCM tag length is invalid.
   - version: v7.2.0
     pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/9398
     description: This method now returns a reference to `decipher`.
@@ -432,7 +435,9 @@ When using an authenticated encryption mode (only `GCM` is currently
 supported), the `decipher.setAuthTag()` method is used to pass in the
 received _authentication tag_. If no tag is provided, or if the cipher text
 has been tampered with, [`decipher.final()`][] will throw, indicating that the
-cipher text should be discarded due to failed authentication.
+cipher text should be discarded due to failed authentication. If the tag length
+is invalid according to [NIST SP 800-38D][], `decipher.setAuthTag()` will throw
+an error.
 
 Note that this Node.js version does not verify the length of GCM authentication
 tags. Such a check *must* be implemented by applications and is crucial to the
diff --git a/doc/api/deprecations.md b/doc/api/deprecations.md
index b78244b5d5b015..37d04689a83116 100644
--- a/doc/api/deprecations.md
+++ b/doc/api/deprecations.md
@@ -822,14 +822,13 @@ same as the legacy assert but it will always use strict equality checks.
 <a id="DEP0090"></a>
 ### DEP0090: Invalid GCM authentication tag lengths
 
-Type: Runtime
+Type: End-of-Life
 
-Node.js supports all GCM authentication tag lengths which are accepted by
-OpenSSL when calling [`decipher.setAuthTag()`][]. This behavior will change in
-a future version at which point only authentication tag lengths of 128, 120,
-112, 104, 96, 64, and 32 bits will be allowed. Authentication tags whose length
-is not included in this list will be considered invalid in compliance with
-[NIST SP 800-38D][].
+Node.js used to support all GCM authentication tag lengths which are accepted by
+OpenSSL when calling [`decipher.setAuthTag()`][]. Beginning with node REPLACEME,
+only authentication tag lengths of 128, 120, 112, 104, 96, 64, and 32 bits are
+allowed. Authentication tags whose length is not included in this list are
+considered invalid in compliance with [NIST SP 800-38D][].
 
 <a id="DEP0091"></a>
 ### DEP0091: crypto.DEFAULT_ENCODING
diff --git a/src/node_crypto.cc b/src/node_crypto.cc
index 9733fddcf3e2ec..be7e385c41e07f 100644
--- a/src/node_crypto.cc
+++ b/src/node_crypto.cc
@@ -2911,11 +2911,10 @@ void CipherBase::SetAuthTag(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
   const int mode = EVP_CIPHER_CTX_mode(cipher->ctx_);
   if (mode == EVP_CIPH_GCM_MODE) {
     if (tag_len > 16 || (tag_len < 12 && tag_len != 8 && tag_len != 4)) {
-      char msg[125];
+      char msg[50];
       snprintf(msg, sizeof(msg),
-          "Permitting authentication tag lengths of %u bytes is deprecated. "
-          "Valid GCM tag lengths are 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.", tag_len);
-      ProcessEmitDeprecationWarning(cipher->env(), msg, "DEP0090");
+          "Invalid GCM authentication tag length: %u", tag_len);
+      return cipher->env()->ThrowError(msg);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-crypto-authenticated.js b/test/parallel/test-crypto-authenticated.js
index 73e3a23f72ac81..df5ba0392395af 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-crypto-authenticated.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-crypto-authenticated.js
@@ -534,13 +534,8 @@ const expectedWarnings = common.hasFipsCrypto ?
     ['Use Cipheriv for counter mode of aes-256-ccm', common.noWarnCode]
   ];
 
-const expectedDeprecationWarnings = [0, 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 17]
-  .map((i) => [`Permitting authentication tag lengths of ${i} bytes is ` +
-            'deprecated. Valid GCM tag lengths are 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.',
-               'DEP0090']);
-
-expectedDeprecationWarnings.push(['crypto.DEFAULT_ENCODING is deprecated.',
-                                  'DEP0091']);
+const expectedDeprecationWarnings = ['crypto.DEFAULT_ENCODING is deprecated.',
+                                     'DEP0091'];
 
 common.expectWarning({
   Warning: expectedWarnings,
@@ -719,13 +714,18 @@ for (const test of TEST_CASES) {
 }
 
 // GCM only supports specific authentication tag lengths, invalid lengths should
-// produce warnings.
+// throw.
 {
-  for (const length of [0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]) {
-    const decrypt = crypto.createDecipheriv('aes-256-gcm',
-                                            'FxLKsqdmv0E9xrQhp0b1ZgI0K7JFZJM8',
-                                            'qkuZpJWCewa6Szih');
-    decrypt.setAuthTag(Buffer.from('1'.repeat(length)));
+  for (const length of [0, 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 17]) {
+    common.expectsError(() => {
+      const decrypt = crypto.createDecipheriv('aes-128-gcm',
+                                              'FxLKsqdmv0E9xrQh',
+                                              'qkuZpJWCewa6Szih');
+      decrypt.setAuthTag(Buffer.from('1'.repeat(length)));
+    }, {
+      type: Error,
+      message: `Invalid GCM authentication tag length: ${length}`
+    });
   }
 }