diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4SizeHeaderFrameDecoder.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4SizeHeaderFrameDecoder.java
index 7ef8bfcf59a3b..7d95d44d8d629 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4SizeHeaderFrameDecoder.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4SizeHeaderFrameDecoder.java
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ final class Netty4SizeHeaderFrameDecoder extends ByteToMessageDecoder {
 
     private static final int HEADER_SIZE = TcpHeader.MARKER_BYTES_SIZE + TcpHeader.MESSAGE_LENGTH_SIZE;
 
+    {
+        setCumulator(COMPOSITE_CUMULATOR);
+    }
+
     @Override
     protected void decode(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, ByteBuf in, List<Object> out) throws Exception {
         try {