diff --git a/consensus/clique/api.go b/consensus/clique/api.go
index 03f2daffa0c4..cb270d321d5a 100644
--- a/consensus/clique/api.go
+++ b/consensus/clique/api.go
@@ -196,7 +196,11 @@ func (sb *blockNumberOrHashOrRLP) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &input); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	sb.RLP = hexutil.MustDecode(input)
+	blob, err := hexutil.Decode(input)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	sb.RLP = blob
 	return nil
 }