diff --git a/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/HttpServerRequestImpl.java b/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/HttpServerRequestImpl.java
index 604b52998b0..9ee4ed6df3c 100644
--- a/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/HttpServerRequestImpl.java
+++ b/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/HttpServerRequestImpl.java
@@ -141,17 +141,31 @@ public void handleHeaders(HttpRequestHead headers) {
 
   private void handleException(Throwable cause) {
     boolean notify;
+    HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup;
     synchronized (connection) {
       notify = !ended;
+      decoderToCleanup = notify ? postRequestDecoder : null;
     }
-    if (notify) {
-      notifyException(cause);
+    try {
+      if (notify) {
+        notifyException(cause);
+      }
+      response.handleException(cause);
+    } finally {
+      cleanupPostRequestDecoder(decoderToCleanup);
     }
-    response.handleException(cause);
   }
 
   private void handleClosed(Void v) {
-    response.handleClose(v);
+    HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup;
+    synchronized (connection) {
+      decoderToCleanup = postRequestDecoder;
+    }
+    try {
+      response.handleClose(v);
+    } finally {
+      cleanupPostRequestDecoder(decoderToCleanup);
+    }
   }
 
   private void notifyException(Throwable failure) {
@@ -178,8 +192,7 @@ public void handleData(Buffer data) {
       } catch (HttpPostRequestDecoder.ErrorDataDecoderException |
                HttpPostRequestDecoder.TooLongFormFieldException |
                HttpPostRequestDecoder.TooManyFormFieldsException e) {
-        postRequestDecoder.destroy();
-        postRequestDecoder = null;
+        cleanupPostRequestDecoder();
         handleException(e);
       }
     }
@@ -215,8 +228,7 @@ public void handleTrailers(MultiMap trailers) {
         } catch (Exception e) {
           handleException(e);
         } finally {
-          postRequestDecoder.destroy();
-          postRequestDecoder = null;
+          cleanupPostRequestDecoder();
         }
       }
       handler = eventHandler;
@@ -228,13 +240,38 @@ public void handleTrailers(MultiMap trailers) {
 
   public void handleReset(long errorCode) {
     boolean notify;
+    HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup;
     synchronized (connection) {
       notify = !ended;
+      decoderToCleanup = postRequestDecoder;
+    }
+    try {
+      if (notify) {
+        notifyException(new StreamResetException(errorCode));
+      }
+      response.handleReset(errorCode);
+    } finally {
+      cleanupPostRequestDecoder(decoderToCleanup);
     }
-    if (notify) {
-      notifyException(new StreamResetException(errorCode));
+  }
+
+  private void cleanupPostRequestDecoder() {
+    HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup;
+    synchronized (connection) {
+      decoderToCleanup = postRequestDecoder;
+    }
+    cleanupPostRequestDecoder(decoderToCleanup);
+  }
+
+  private void cleanupPostRequestDecoder(HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup) {
+    if (decoderToCleanup != null) {
+      synchronized (connection) {
+        if (postRequestDecoder == decoderToCleanup) {
+          postRequestDecoder = null;
+        }
+      }
+      decoderToCleanup.destroy();
     }
-    response.handleReset(errorCode);
   }
 
   private void checkEnded() {
diff --git a/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/http1/Http1ServerRequest.java b/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/http1/Http1ServerRequest.java
index c815278e2c3..7626a3e353d 100644
--- a/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/http1/Http1ServerRequest.java
+++ b/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/impl/http1/Http1ServerRequest.java
@@ -567,8 +567,7 @@ private void onData(Buffer data) {
         } catch (HttpPostRequestDecoder.ErrorDataDecoderException |
                  HttpPostRequestDecoder.TooLongFormFieldException |
                  HttpPostRequestDecoder.TooManyFormFieldsException e) {
-          decoder.destroy();
-          decoder = null;
+          cleanupDecoder();
           handleException(e);
         }
       }
@@ -617,9 +616,10 @@ private void reportRequestBegin() {
   }
 
   private void endDecode() {
+    Exception failure = null;
     try {
       decoder.offer(LastHttpContent.EMPTY_LAST_CONTENT);
-      while (decoder.hasNext()) {
+      while (failure == null && decoder.hasNext()) {
         InterfaceHttpData data = decoder.next();
         if (data instanceof Attribute) {
           Attribute attr = (Attribute) data;
@@ -627,12 +627,15 @@ private void endDecode() {
             attributes().add(attr.getName(), attr.getValue());
           } catch (Exception e) {
             // Will never happen, anyway handle it somehow just in case
-            handleException(e);
+            failure = e;
           } finally {
             attr.release();
           }
         }
       }
+      if (failure != null) {
+        handleException(failure);
+      }
     } catch (HttpPostRequestDecoder.ErrorDataDecoderException |
              HttpPostRequestDecoder.TooLongFormFieldException |
              HttpPostRequestDecoder.TooManyFormFieldsException e) {
@@ -640,8 +643,7 @@ private void endDecode() {
     }  catch (HttpPostRequestDecoder.EndOfDataDecoderException e) {
       // ignore this as it is expected
     } finally {
-      decoder.destroy();
-      decoder = null;
+      cleanupDecoder();
     }
   }
 
@@ -649,11 +651,14 @@ void handleException(Throwable t) {
     HttpEventHandler handler = null;
     Http1ServerResponse resp = null;
     InterfaceHttpData upload = null;
+    HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup = null;
     synchronized (conn) {
       if (!isEnded()) {
         handler = eventHandler;
         if (decoder != null) {
           upload = decoder.currentPartialHttpData();
+          decoderToCleanup = decoder;
+          decoder = null;
         }
       }
       if (!response.ended()) {
@@ -663,14 +668,33 @@ void handleException(Throwable t) {
         resp = response;
       }
     }
-    if (resp != null) {
-      resp.handleException(t);
+    try {
+      if (resp != null) {
+        resp.handleException(t);
+      }
+      if (upload instanceof NettyFileUpload) {
+        ((NettyFileUpload) upload).handleException(t);
+      }
+      if (handler != null) {
+        handler.handleException(t);
+      }
+    } finally {
+      cleanupDecoder(decoderToCleanup);
     }
-    if (upload instanceof NettyFileUpload) {
-      ((NettyFileUpload) upload).handleException(t);
+  }
+
+  private void cleanupDecoder() {
+    HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup;
+    synchronized (conn) {
+      decoderToCleanup = decoder;
+      decoder = null;
     }
-    if (handler != null) {
-      handler.handleException(t);
+    cleanupDecoder(decoderToCleanup);
+  }
+
+  private void cleanupDecoder(HttpPostRequestDecoder decoderToCleanup) {
+    if (decoderToCleanup != null) {
+      decoderToCleanup.destroy();
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/fileupload/HttpServerFileUploadTest.java b/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/fileupload/HttpServerFileUploadTest.java
index 8e66bade557..534bd434da6 100644
--- a/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/fileupload/HttpServerFileUploadTest.java
+++ b/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/fileupload/HttpServerFileUploadTest.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import io.vertx.test.http.HttpConfig;
 import io.vertx.test.http.HttpTestBase;
 import io.vertx.test.http.SimpleHttpTest;
+import org.junit.Assume;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.function.BooleanSupplier;
@@ -56,6 +58,62 @@ public void setUp() throws Exception {
     testDir = testFolder.newFolder();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testClientResetMultipartUploadCleansDecoder() throws Exception {
+    Assume.assumeTrue(config.version() == HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1 || config.version() == HttpVersion.HTTP_2);
+    AtomicReference<HttpClientRequest> clientRequest = new AtomicReference<>();
+    AtomicBoolean completed = new AtomicBoolean();
+    server.requestHandler(req -> {
+      if (req.method() == HttpMethod.POST) {
+        Context context = Vertx.currentContext();
+        req.setExpectMultipart(true);
+        req.exceptionHandler(err -> {
+          if (!completed.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
+            return;
+          }
+          // Defer until handleException cleanup runs.
+          context.runOnContext(v -> {
+            req.headers().set(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, "text/plain");
+            try {
+              req.setExpectMultipart(true);
+              Assert.fail("Should throw IllegalStateException");
+            } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
+              Assert.assertTrue(e.getMessage(), e.getMessage().contains("valid content-type"));
+            }
+            testComplete();
+          });
+        });
+        req.uploadHandler(upload -> {
+          upload.handler(buffer -> {});
+          HttpClientRequest request = clientRequest.get();
+          if (request != null) {
+            request.reset();
+          }
+        });
+      }
+    });
+    startServer(testAddress);
+
+    String boundary = "multipart-cleanup";
+    String body = "--" + boundary + "\r\n" +
+      "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"tmp-0.txt\"\r\n" +
+      "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" +
+      "\r\n" +
+      "content";
+
+    client.request(new RequestOptions(requestOptions)
+      .setMethod(HttpMethod.POST)
+      .setURI("/form")).onComplete(TestUtils.onSuccess(request -> {
+      clientRequest.set(request);
+      request
+        .putHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary)
+        .putHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_LENGTH, "999999")
+        .response().onComplete(ar -> {});
+      request.write(body);
+    }));
+    await();
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testFormUploadEmptyFile() {
     testFormUploadFile("", false, false, false, false);