diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ae061e8c0..f2e086297 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ Bugfix
    * Fix compile error in timing.c when POLARSSL_NET_C and POLARSSL_SELFTEST
      are defined but not POLARSSL_HAVE_TIME (found by Stephane Di Vito).
    * Remove non-existent file from VS projects (found by Peter Vaskovic).
+   * ssl_read() could return non-application data records on server while
+     renegotation was pending, and on client when a HelloRequest was received.
 
 Changes
    * Ciphersuites using SHA-256 or SHA-384 now require TLS 1.x (there is no
@@ -18,6 +20,8 @@ Changes
      ambiguous on how to encode some packets with SSL 3.0).
    * Made buffer size in pk_write_(pub)key_pem() more dynamic, eg smaller if
      RSA is disabled, larger if POLARSSL_MPI_MAX_SIZE is larger.
+   * ssl_read() now returns POLARSSL_ERR_NET_WANT_READ rather than
+     POLARSSL_ERR_SSL_UNEXPECTED_MESSAGE on harmless alerts.
 
 = PolarSSL 1.3.8 released 2014-07-11
 Security
diff --git a/library/ssl_tls.c b/library/ssl_tls.c
index ac82dfb25..1d68d965e 100644
--- a/library/ssl_tls.c
+++ b/library/ssl_tls.c
@@ -4357,9 +4357,10 @@ int ssl_read( ssl_context *ssl, unsigned char *buf, size_t len )
                     SSL_DEBUG_RET( 1, "ssl_start_renegotiation", ret );
                     return( ret );
                 }
-
-                return( POLARSSL_ERR_NET_WANT_READ );
             }
+
+            /* Tell the user to call ssl_read() again */
+            return( POLARSSL_ERR_NET_WANT_READ );
         }
         else if( ssl->renegotiation == SSL_RENEGOTIATION_PENDING )
         {
@@ -4373,7 +4374,15 @@ int ssl_read( ssl_context *ssl, unsigned char *buf, size_t len )
                 return( POLARSSL_ERR_SSL_UNEXPECTED_MESSAGE );
             }
         }
-        else if( ssl->in_msgtype != SSL_MSG_APPLICATION_DATA )
+
+        /* Fatal and closure alerts handled by ssl_read_record() */
+        if( ssl->in_msgtype == SSL_MSG_ALERT )
+        {
+            SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 2, ( "ignoring non-fatal non-closure alert" ) );
+            return( POLARSSL_ERR_NET_WANT_READ );
+        }
+
+        if( ssl->in_msgtype != SSL_MSG_APPLICATION_DATA )
         {
             SSL_DEBUG_MSG( 1, ( "bad application data message" ) );
             return( POLARSSL_ERR_SSL_UNEXPECTED_MESSAGE );