diff --git a/app/test/test_ipsec.c b/app/test/test_ipsec.c
index 7c03a06785..aa533483fd 100644
--- a/app/test/test_ipsec.c
+++ b/app/test/test_ipsec.c
@@ -629,7 +629,8 @@ setup_test_string_tunneled(struct rte_mempool *mpool, const char *string,
 		rte_memcpy(dst, string, len);
 		dst += len;
 		/* copy pad bytes */
-		rte_memcpy(dst, esp_pad_bytes, padlen);
+		rte_memcpy(dst, esp_pad_bytes, RTE_MIN(padlen,
+			sizeof(esp_pad_bytes)));
 		dst += padlen;
 		/* copy ESP tail header */
 		rte_memcpy(dst, &espt, sizeof(espt));