diff --git a/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/IOUtils.java b/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/IOUtils.java
index a69f1b052f..6dd510fe39 100644
--- a/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/IOUtils.java
+++ b/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/IOUtils.java
@@ -124,6 +124,12 @@ public final class IOUtils {
         }
     }
 
+    private static void checkByteSizeLimit(long length) {
+        if(BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE != -1 && length > BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE) {
+            throwRFE(length, BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Peeks at the first N bytes of the stream. Returns those bytes, but
      *  with the stream unaffected. Requires a stream that supports mark/reset,
@@ -539,7 +545,7 @@ public final class IOUtils {
     public static byte[] safelyAllocate(long length, int maxLength) {
         safelyAllocateCheck(length, maxLength);
 
-        checkByteSizeLimit((int)length);
+        checkByteSizeLimit(length);
 
         return new byte[(int)length];
     }
@@ -570,8 +576,6 @@ public final class IOUtils {
     }
 
 
-
-
     /**
      * Simple utility function to check that you haven't hit EOF
      * when reading a byte.