diff --git a/src/chains/stellar/meta-address.ts b/src/chains/stellar/meta-address.ts
index ccbcf77..0c9e533 100644
--- a/src/chains/stellar/meta-address.ts
+++ b/src/chains/stellar/meta-address.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,13 @@ export function decodeStealthMetaAddress(metaAddress: string): StealthMetaAddres
     );
   }
 
+  if (!/^[0-9a-fA-F]{128}$/.test(hex)) {
+    throw new InvalidMetaAddressError(
+      metaAddress,
+      'Invalid stealth meta-address hex. Expected 128 hexadecimal chars',
+    );
+  }
+
   const spendingPubKey = hexToBytes(hex.slice(0, 64));
   const viewingPubKey = hexToBytes(hex.slice(64));
 
diff --git a/test/chains/stellar/meta-address.test.ts b/test/chains/stellar/meta-address.test.ts
index f6520a3..d38e584 100644
--- a/test/chains/stellar/meta-address.test.ts
+++ b/test/chains/stellar/meta-address.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, test, expect } from 'vitest';
+import * as fc from 'fast-check';
 import { deriveStealthKeys } from '../../../src/chains/stellar/keys';
 import {
   encodeStealthMetaAddress,
@@ -37,6 +38,37 @@ describe('meta-address', () => {
     );
   });
 
+  test.each(['g', 'G', '-', ' ', '\u00e9'])('rejects non-hex payload character %j', (character) => {
+    const keys = deriveStealthKeys(testSig);
+    const meta = encodeStealthMetaAddress(keys.spendingPubKey, keys.viewingPubKey);
+    const malformed = `${meta.slice(0, 7)}${character}${meta.slice(8)}`;
+
+    expect(() => decodeStealthMetaAddress(malformed)).toThrow(
+      'Invalid stealth meta-address hex. Expected 128 hexadecimal chars',
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('rejects invalid hex characters at every payload position', () => {
+    const keys = deriveStealthKeys(testSig);
+    const meta = encodeStealthMetaAddress(keys.spendingPubKey, keys.viewingPubKey);
+
+    fc.assert(
+      fc.property(
+        fc.integer({ min: 0, max: 127 }),
+        fc.constantFrom('g', 'G', 'z', '-', ' ', '\u00e9'),
+        (index, character) => {
+          const payloadIndex = 7 + index;
+          const malformed = `${meta.slice(0, payloadIndex)}${character}${meta.slice(payloadIndex + 1)}`;
+
+          expect(() => decodeStealthMetaAddress(malformed)).toThrow(
+            'Invalid stealth meta-address hex. Expected 128 hexadecimal chars',
+          );
+        },
+      ),
+      { numRuns: 256 },
+    );
+  });
+
   test('encode rejects wrong key length', () => {
     const shortKey = new Uint8Array(31);
     const keys = deriveStealthKeys(testSig);