diff --git a/internal/backup/verify.go b/internal/backup/verify.go
index f2bf52a..6884745 100644
--- a/internal/backup/verify.go
+++ b/internal/backup/verify.go
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ func Verify(ctx context.Context, input io.Reader, maxBytes int64) (*Manifest, er
 		// Bound Next itself: it otherwise hides and allocates extension records.
 		decoded.limit = before + padding + 3*512
 		h, err := tr.Next()
+		if errors.Is(err, ErrTooLarge) {
+			// The 3-block header budget is a structure check, not the size limit.
+			return nil, verificationError(ctx, nil, "tar header")
+		}
 		if err == io.EOF {
 			// tar.Reader also accepts EOF without both closing zero blocks.
 			if decoded.n-before != padding+2*512 {
@@ -106,6 +110,9 @@ func Verify(ctx context.Context, input io.Reader, maxBytes int64) (*Manifest, er
 	decoded.limit = decoded.n
 	var tail [1]byte
 	if _, err := decoded.Read(tail[:]); err != io.EOF {
+		if errors.Is(err, ErrTooLarge) {
+			err = nil // bytes after the tar terminator are corruption, not oversize
+		}
 		return nil, verificationError(ctx, err, "gzip completion or trailing tar data")
 	}
 	if _, err := buffered.ReadByte(); err != io.EOF {
diff --git a/internal/backup/verify_test.go b/internal/backup/verify_test.go
index fb0e9f1..06eb123 100644
--- a/internal/backup/verify_test.go
+++ b/internal/backup/verify_test.go
@@ -170,9 +170,14 @@ func TestVerifyRejectsInvalidMembersAndManifest(t *testing.T) {
 	} {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			data := verifyGzip(t, verifyTar(t, tc.change(verifyFixture(t))))
-			if _, err := Verify(context.Background(), bytes.NewReader(data), int64(len(testSQL))); err == nil || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "PRIVATE_CANARY") {
+			_, err := Verify(context.Background(), bytes.NewReader(data), int64(len(testSQL)))
+			if err == nil || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "PRIVATE_CANARY") {
 				t.Fatalf("expected a sanitized rejection, got %v", err)
 			}
+			// PAX header size errors should be corruption, not size limit.
+			if tc.name == "hidden oversized metadata" && errors.Is(err, ErrTooLarge) {
+				t.Fatalf("oversized header reported as size limit: %v", err)
+			}
 		})
 	}
 }
@@ -190,9 +195,13 @@ func TestVerifyFraming(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for name, data := range cases {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			if _, err := Verify(context.Background(), bytes.NewReader(data), DefaultMaxBytes); err == nil || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "PRIVATE_CANARY") {
+			_, err := Verify(context.Background(), bytes.NewReader(data), DefaultMaxBytes)
+			if err == nil || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "PRIVATE_CANARY") {
 				t.Fatalf("expected sanitized framing error, got %v", err)
 			}
+			if errors.Is(err, ErrTooLarge) {
+				t.Fatalf("framing corruption reported as size limit: %v", err)
+			}
 		})
 	}
 }