diff --git a/src/backend/libpq/auth-sasl.c b/src/backend/libpq/auth-sasl.c
index 3e4f763b60..6cfd90fa21 100644
--- a/src/backend/libpq/auth-sasl.c
+++ b/src/backend/libpq/auth-sasl.c
@@ -171,6 +171,13 @@ CheckSASLAuth(const pg_be_sasl_mech *mech, Port *port, char *shadow_pass,
 
 		if (output)
 		{
+			/*
+			 * PG_SASL_EXCHANGE_FAILURE with some output is forbidden by SASL.
+			 * Make sure here that the mechanism used got that right.
+			 */
+			if (result == PG_SASL_EXCHANGE_FAILURE)
+				elog(ERROR, "output message found after SASL exchange failure");
+
 			/*
 			 * Negotiation generated data to be sent to the client.
 			 */
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth-sasl.h b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth-sasl.h
index 0aec588a9e..3d7ee576f2 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth-sasl.h
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth-sasl.h
@@ -78,11 +78,12 @@ typedef struct pg_fe_sasl_mech
 	 * Output parameters, to be set by the callback function:
 	 *
 	 *	output:	   A malloc'd buffer containing the client's response to
-	 *			   the server, or NULL if the exchange should be aborted.
-	 *			   (*success should be set to false in the latter case.)
+	 *			   the server (can be empty), or NULL if the exchange should
+	 *			   be aborted.  (*success should be set to false in the
+	 *			   latter case.)
 	 *
-	 *	outputlen: The length of the client response buffer, or zero if no
-	 *			   data should be sent due to an exchange failure
+	 *	outputlen: The length (0 or higher) of the client response buffer,
+	 *			   ignored if output is NULL.
 	 *
 	 *	done:      Set to true if the SASL exchange should not continue,
 	 *			   because the exchange is either complete or failed
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth.c
index eaba0ba56d..3421ed4685 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth.c
@@ -674,7 +674,22 @@ pg_SASL_continue(PGconn *conn, int payloadlen, bool final)
 		return STATUS_ERROR;
 	}
 
-	if (outputlen != 0)
+	/*
+	 * If the exchange is not completed yet, we need to make sure that the
+	 * SASL mechanism has generated a message to send back.
+	 */
+	if (output == NULL && !done)
+	{
+		appendPQExpBufferStr(&conn->errorMessage,
+							 libpq_gettext("no client response found after SASL exchange success\n"));
+		return STATUS_ERROR;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * SASL allows zero-length responses, so this check uses "output" and not
+	 * "outputlen" to allow the case of an empty message.
+	 */
+	if (output)
 	{
 		/*
 		 * Send the SASL response to the server.