diff --git a/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c b/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c
index fac65e15589..845cffe77a5 100644
--- a/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c
+++ b/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c
@@ -9304,14 +9304,8 @@ ctl_request_sense(struct ctl_scsiio *ctsio)
 	sense_ptr = (struct scsi_sense_data *)ctsio->kern_data_ptr;
 	ctsio->kern_sg_entries = 0;
 	ctsio->kern_rel_offset = 0;
-
-	/*
-	 * struct scsi_sense_data, which is currently set to 256 bytes, is
-	 * larger than the largest allowed value for the length field in the
-	 * REQUEST SENSE CDB, which is 252 bytes as of SPC-4.
-	 */
-	ctsio->kern_data_len = cdb->length;
-	ctsio->kern_total_len = cdb->length;
+	ctsio->kern_data_len = ctsio->kern_total_len =
+	    MIN(cdb->length, sizeof(*sense_ptr));
 
 	/*
 	 * If we don't have a LUN, we don't have any pending sense.