diff --git a/src/fmt/scan.go b/src/fmt/scan.go
index 21ed091d80..5b9b516353 100644
--- a/src/fmt/scan.go
+++ b/src/fmt/scan.go
@@ -888,7 +888,6 @@ func hexDigit(d rune) (int, bool) {
 func (s *ss) hexByte() (b byte, ok bool) {
 	rune1 := s.getRune()
 	if rune1 == eof {
-		s.UnreadRune()
 		return
 	}
 	value1, ok := hexDigit(rune1)
diff --git a/src/fmt/scan_test.go b/src/fmt/scan_test.go
index 694f93e1ae..a3784364e6 100644
--- a/src/fmt/scan_test.go
+++ b/src/fmt/scan_test.go
@@ -1128,3 +1128,31 @@ func TestScanfNewlineMatchFormat(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// Test for issue 12090: Was unreading at EOF, double-scanning a byte.
+
+type hexBytes [2]byte
+
+func (h *hexBytes) Scan(ss ScanState, verb rune) error {
+	var b []byte
+	_, err := Fscanf(ss, "%4x", &b)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err) // Really shouldn't happen.
+	}
+	copy((*h)[:], b)
+	return err
+}
+
+func TestHexByte(t *testing.T) {
+	var h hexBytes
+	n, err := Sscanln("0123\n", &h)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 item; scanned %d", n)
+	}
+	if h[0] != 0x01 || h[1] != 0x23 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 0123 got %x", h)
+	}
+}