diff --git a/eth/downloader/downloader.go b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
index 30be0dde5..426da9beb 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/downloader.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
@@ -23,20 +23,20 @@ var (
 	minDesiredPeerCount = 5                // Amount of peers desired to start syncing
 	blockTtl            = 20 * time.Second // The amount of time it takes for a block request to time out
 
-	errLowTd               = errors.New("peer's TD is too low")
-	ErrBusy                = errors.New("busy")
-	errUnknownPeer         = errors.New("peer's unknown or unhealthy")
-	ErrBadPeer             = errors.New("action from bad peer ignored")
-	errNoPeers             = errors.New("no peers to keep download active")
-	ErrPendingQueue        = errors.New("pending items in queue")
-	ErrTimeout             = errors.New("timeout")
-	errEmptyHashSet        = errors.New("empty hash set by peer")
-	errPeersUnavailable    = errors.New("no peers available or all peers tried for block download process")
-	errAlreadyInPool       = errors.New("hash already in pool")
-	errBlockNumberOverflow = errors.New("received block which overflows")
-	errCancelHashFetch     = errors.New("hash fetching cancelled (requested)")
-	errCancelBlockFetch    = errors.New("block downloading cancelled (requested)")
-	errNoSyncActive        = errors.New("no sync active")
+	errLowTd            = errors.New("peer's TD is too low")
+	ErrBusy             = errors.New("busy")
+	errUnknownPeer      = errors.New("peer's unknown or unhealthy")
+	ErrBadPeer          = errors.New("action from bad peer ignored")
+	errNoPeers          = errors.New("no peers to keep download active")
+	ErrPendingQueue     = errors.New("pending items in queue")
+	ErrTimeout          = errors.New("timeout")
+	errEmptyHashSet     = errors.New("empty hash set by peer")
+	errPeersUnavailable = errors.New("no peers available or all peers tried for block download process")
+	errAlreadyInPool    = errors.New("hash already in pool")
+	ErrInvalidChain     = errors.New("retrieved hash chain is invalid")
+	errCancelHashFetch  = errors.New("hash fetching cancelled (requested)")
+	errCancelBlockFetch = errors.New("block downloading cancelled (requested)")
+	errNoSyncActive     = errors.New("no sync active")
 )
 
 type hashCheckFn func(common.Hash) bool
@@ -334,8 +334,14 @@ out:
 			// If the peer was previously banned and failed to deliver it's pack
 			// in a reasonable time frame, ignore it's message.
 			if peer := d.peers.Peer(blockPack.peerId); peer != nil {
-				// Deliver the received chunk of blocks, but drop the peer if invalid
+				// Deliver the received chunk of blocks
 				if err := d.queue.Deliver(blockPack.peerId, blockPack.blocks); err != nil {
+					if err == ErrInvalidChain {
+						// The hash chain is invalid (blocks are not ordered properly), abort
+						d.queue.Reset()
+						return err
+					}
+					// Peer did deliver, but some blocks were off, penalize
 					glog.V(logger.Debug).Infof("Failed delivery for peer %s: %v\n", blockPack.peerId, err)
 					peer.Demote()
 					break
diff --git a/eth/downloader/downloader_test.go b/eth/downloader/downloader_test.go
index 7888bd1e0..4b8ee93d2 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/downloader_test.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/downloader_test.go
@@ -75,9 +75,40 @@ func newTester(t *testing.T, hashes []common.Hash, blocks map[common.Hash]*types
 	return tester
 }
 
-func (dl *downloadTester) sync(peerId string, hash common.Hash) error {
+// sync is a simple wrapper around the downloader to start synchronisation and
+// block until it returns
+func (dl *downloadTester) sync(peerId string, head common.Hash) error {
 	dl.activePeerId = peerId
-	return dl.downloader.Synchronise(peerId, hash)
+	return dl.downloader.Synchronise(peerId, head)
+}
+
+// syncTake is starts synchronising with a remote peer, but concurrently it also
+// starts fetching blocks that the downloader retrieved. IT blocks until both go
+// routines terminate.
+func (dl *downloadTester) syncTake(peerId string, head common.Hash) (types.Blocks, error) {
+	// Start a block collector to take blocks as they become available
+	done := make(chan struct{})
+	took := []*types.Block{}
+	go func() {
+		for running := true; running; {
+			select {
+			case <-done:
+				running = false
+			default:
+				time.Sleep(time.Millisecond)
+			}
+			// Take a batch of blocks and accumulate
+			took = append(took, dl.downloader.TakeBlocks()...)
+		}
+		done <- struct{}{}
+	}()
+	// Start the downloading, sync the taker and return
+	err := dl.sync(peerId, head)
+
+	done <- struct{}{}
+	<-done
+
+	return took, err
 }
 
 func (dl *downloadTester) insertBlocks(blocks types.Blocks) {
@@ -264,32 +295,7 @@ func TestThrottling(t *testing.T) {
 	tester.badBlocksPeer("peer4", big.NewInt(0), common.Hash{})
 
 	// Concurrently download and take the blocks
-	errc := make(chan error, 1)
-	go func() {
-		errc <- tester.sync("peer1", hashes[0])
-	}()
-
-	done := make(chan struct{})
-	took := []*types.Block{}
-	go func() {
-		for running := true; running; {
-			select {
-			case <-done:
-				running = false
-			default:
-				time.Sleep(time.Millisecond)
-			}
-			// Take a batch of blocks and accumulate
-			took = append(took, tester.downloader.TakeBlocks()...)
-		}
-		done <- struct{}{}
-	}()
-
-	// Synchronise the two threads and verify
-	err := <-errc
-	done <- struct{}{}
-	<-done
-
+	took, err := tester.syncTake("peer1", hashes[0])
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to synchronise blocks: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -395,3 +401,31 @@ func TestNonExistingBlockAttack(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to synchronise blocks: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// Tests that if a malicious peer is returning hashes in a weird order, that the
+// sync throttler doesn't choke on them waiting for the valid blocks.
+func TestInvalidHashOrderAttack(t *testing.T) {
+	// Create a valid long chain, but reverse some hashes within
+	hashes := createHashes(0, 4*blockCacheLimit)
+	blocks := createBlocksFromHashes(hashes)
+
+	reverse := make([]common.Hash, len(hashes))
+	copy(reverse, hashes)
+
+	for i := len(hashes) / 4; i < 2*len(hashes)/4; i++ {
+		reverse[i], reverse[len(hashes)-i-1] = reverse[len(hashes)-i-1], reverse[i]
+	}
+
+	// Try and sync with the malicious node and check that it fails
+	tester := newTester(t, reverse, blocks)
+	tester.newPeer("attack", big.NewInt(10000), reverse[0])
+	if _, err := tester.syncTake("attack", reverse[0]); err != ErrInvalidChain {
+		t.Fatalf("synchronisation error mismatch: have %v, want %v", err, ErrInvalidChain)
+	}
+	// Ensure that a valid chain can still pass sync
+	tester.hashes = hashes
+	tester.newPeer("valid", big.NewInt(20000), hashes[0])
+	if _, err := tester.syncTake("valid", hashes[0]); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to synchronise blocks: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/eth/downloader/queue.go b/eth/downloader/queue.go
index fdea1f63f..aa48c521a 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/queue.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/queue.go
@@ -298,18 +298,17 @@ func (q *queue) Deliver(id string, blocks []*types.Block) (err error) {
 	// Iterate over the downloaded blocks and add each of them
 	errs := make([]error, 0)
 	for _, block := range blocks {
-		// Skip any blocks that fall outside the cache range
-		index := int(block.NumberU64()) - q.blockOffset
-		if index >= len(q.blockCache) || index < 0 {
-			//fmt.Printf("block cache overflown (N=%v O=%v, C=%v)", block.Number(), q.blockOffset, len(q.blockCache))
-			continue
-		}
 		// Skip any blocks that were not requested
 		hash := block.Hash()
 		if _, ok := request.Hashes[hash]; !ok {
 			errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("non-requested block %v", hash))
 			continue
 		}
+		// If a requested block falls out of the range, the hash chain is invalid
+		index := int(block.NumberU64()) - q.blockOffset
+		if index >= len(q.blockCache) || index < 0 {
+			return ErrInvalidChain
+		}
 		// Otherwise merge the block and mark the hash block
 		q.blockCache[index] = block