diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AckedDelivery.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AckedDelivery.scala
index 71db2ce11a..32395d3a62 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AckedDelivery.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AckedDelivery.scala
@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@ case class Ack(cumulativeAck: SeqNo, nacks: Set[SeqNo] = Set.empty) {
 class ResendBufferCapacityReachedException(c: Int)
   extends AkkaException(s"Resend buffer capacity of [$c] has been reached.")
 
+class ResendUnfulfillableException
+  extends AkkaException("Unable to fulfill resend request since negatively acknowledged payload is no longer in buffer. " +
+    "The resend states between two systems are compromised and cannot be recovered.")
+
 /**
  * Implements an immutable resend buffer that buffers messages until they have been acknowledged. Properly removes messages
  * when an ack is received. This buffer works together with [[akka.remote.AckedReceiveBuffer]] on the receiving end.
@@ -94,9 +98,13 @@ case class AckedSendBuffer[T <: HasSequenceNumber](
    * @param ack The received acknowledgement
    * @return An updated buffer containing the remaining unacknowledged messages
    */
-  def acknowledge(ack: Ack): AckedSendBuffer[T] = this.copy(
-    nonAcked = nonAcked.filter { m ⇒ m.seq > ack.cumulativeAck },
-    nacked = (nacked ++ nonAcked) filter { m ⇒ ack.nacks(m.seq) })
+  def acknowledge(ack: Ack): AckedSendBuffer[T] = {
+    val newNacked = (nacked ++ nonAcked) filter { m ⇒ ack.nacks(m.seq) }
+    if (newNacked.size < ack.nacks.size) throw new ResendUnfulfillableException
+    else this.copy(
+      nonAcked = nonAcked.filter { m ⇒ m.seq > ack.cumulativeAck },
+      nacked = newNacked)
+  }
 
   /**
    * Puts a new message in the buffer. Throws [[java.lang.IllegalArgumentException]] if an out-of-sequence message
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AckedDeliverySpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AckedDeliverySpec.scala
index dbd743978a..68a4a38b30 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AckedDeliverySpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AckedDeliverySpec.scala
@@ -169,6 +169,17 @@ class AckedDeliverySpec extends AkkaSpec {
       b7.nacked must be === Vector.empty
     }
 
+    "throw exception if non-buffered sequence number is NACKed" in {
+      val b0 = new AckedSendBuffer[Sequenced](10)
+      val msg1 = msg(1)
+      val msg2 = msg(2)
+
+      val b1 = b0.buffer(msg1).buffer(msg2)
+      intercept[ResendUnfulfillableException] {
+        b1.acknowledge(Ack(SeqNo(2), nacks = Set(SeqNo(0))))
+      }
+    }
+
   }
 
   "ReceiveBuffer" must {