diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala
index b7c9b5d4ce..c00056a3e8 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala
@@ -895,6 +895,15 @@ class ByteStringSpec extends WordSpec with Matchers with Checkers {
           bytes == array.toSeq
         }
       }
+
+      "copying chunks to an array" in {
+        val iterator = (ByteString("123") ++ ByteString("456")).iterator
+        val array = Array.ofDim[Byte](6)
+        iterator.copyToArray(array, 0, 2)
+        iterator.copyToArray(array, 2, 2)
+        iterator.copyToArray(array, 4, 2)
+        assert(new String(array) === "123456")
+      }
     }
 
     "decode data correctly" when {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ByteIterator.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ByteIterator.scala
index 5865555785..9560248fec 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ByteIterator.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ByteIterator.scala
@@ -290,7 +290,9 @@ object ByteIterator {
         current.copyToArray(xs, pos, n)
         pos += n
         rest -= n
-        dropCurrent()
+        if (current.isEmpty) {
+          dropCurrent()
+        }
       }
       normalize()
     }