diff --git a/src/net/http/request.go b/src/net/http/request.go
index aca55b1ca7..ff21f19942 100644
--- a/src/net/http/request.go
+++ b/src/net/http/request.go
@@ -1124,6 +1124,9 @@ func readRequest(b *bufio.Reader, deleteHostHeader bool) (req *Request, err erro
 // MaxBytesReader prevents clients from accidentally or maliciously
 // sending a large request and wasting server resources.
 func MaxBytesReader(w ResponseWriter, r io.ReadCloser, n int64) io.ReadCloser {
+	if n < 0 { // Treat negative limits as equivalent to 0.
+		n = 0
+	}
 	return &maxBytesReader{w: w, r: r, n: n}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/net/http/request_test.go b/src/net/http/request_test.go
index 29297b0e7b..f09c63ed7e 100644
--- a/src/net/http/request_test.go
+++ b/src/net/http/request_test.go
@@ -850,6 +850,92 @@ func TestMaxBytesReaderStickyError(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// Issue 45101: maxBytesReader's Read panicked when n < -1. This test
+// also ensures that Read treats negative limits as equivalent to 0.
+func TestMaxBytesReaderDifferentLimits(t *testing.T) {
+	const testStr = "1234"
+	tests := [...]struct {
+		limit   int64
+		lenP    int
+		wantN   int
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		0: {
+			limit:   -123,
+			lenP:    0,
+			wantN:   0,
+			wantErr: false, // Ensure we won't return an error when the limit is negative, but we don't need to read.
+		},
+		1: {
+			limit:   -100,
+			lenP:    32 * 1024,
+			wantN:   0,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		2: {
+			limit:   -2,
+			lenP:    1,
+			wantN:   0,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		3: {
+			limit:   -1,
+			lenP:    2,
+			wantN:   0,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		4: {
+			limit:   0,
+			lenP:    3,
+			wantN:   0,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		5: {
+			limit:   1,
+			lenP:    4,
+			wantN:   1,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		6: {
+			limit:   2,
+			lenP:    5,
+			wantN:   2,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		7: {
+			limit:   3,
+			lenP:    2,
+			wantN:   2,
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
+		8: {
+			limit:   int64(len(testStr)),
+			lenP:    len(testStr),
+			wantN:   len(testStr),
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
+		9: {
+			limit:   100,
+			lenP:    6,
+			wantN:   len(testStr),
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
+	}
+	for i, tt := range tests {
+		rc := MaxBytesReader(nil, io.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(testStr)), tt.limit)
+
+		n, err := rc.Read(make([]byte, tt.lenP))
+
+		if n != tt.wantN {
+			t.Errorf("%d. n: %d, want n: %d", i, n, tt.wantN)
+		}
+
+		if (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
+			t.Errorf("%d. error: %v", i, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestWithContextDeepCopiesURL(t *testing.T) {
 	req, err := NewRequest("POST", "https://golang.org/", nil)
 	if err != nil {