diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d41b789bd..2ff2425fb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # CHANGELOG
 
+## master
+
+Changes:
+
+- Only allow padding characters in base64 strings
+
+
 ## 12.2.2 Jun 4, 2023
 
 Changes:
diff --git a/packages/util-crypto/src/base32/helpers.ts b/packages/util-crypto/src/base32/helpers.ts
index c73d1b3f9..88ccfc521 100644
--- a/packages/util-crypto/src/base32/helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/util-crypto/src/base32/helpers.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ interface Config {
   ipfs?: string;
   regex?: RegExp;
   type: string;
+  withPadding?: boolean;
 }
 
 type DecodeFn = (value: string, ipfsCompat?: boolean) => Uint8Array;
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ export function createIs (validate: ValidateFn): ValidateFn {
 }
 
 /** @internal */
-export function createValidate ({ chars, ipfs, type }: Config): ValidateFn {
+export function createValidate ({ chars, ipfs, type, withPadding }: Config): ValidateFn {
   return (value?: unknown, ipfsCompat?: boolean): value is string => {
     if (typeof value !== 'string') {
       throw new Error(`Expected ${type} string input`);
@@ -72,12 +73,17 @@ export function createValidate ({ chars, ipfs, type }: Config): ValidateFn {
     }
 
     for (let i = (ipfsCompat ? 1 : 0), count = value.length; i < count; i++) {
-      if (!(chars.includes(value[i]) || (
-        value[i] === '=' && (
-          (i === value.length - 1) ||
-          !chars.includes(value[i + 1])
-        )
-      ))) {
+      if (chars.includes(value[i])) {
+        // all ok, character found
+      } else if (withPadding && value[i] === '=') {
+        if (i === count - 1) {
+          // last character, everything ok
+        } else if (value[i + 1] === '=') {
+          // next one is also padding, sequence ok
+        } else {
+          throw new Error(`Invalid ${type} padding sequence "${value[i]}${value[i + 1]}" at index ${i}`);
+        }
+      } else {
         throw new Error(`Invalid ${type} character "${value[i]}" (0x${value.charCodeAt(i).toString(16)}) at index ${i}`);
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/util-crypto/src/base58/validate.spec.ts b/packages/util-crypto/src/base58/validate.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0fab236b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/util-crypto/src/base58/validate.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2023 @polkadot/util-crypto authors & contributors
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+/// <reference types="@polkadot/dev-test/globals.d.ts" />
+
+import { base58Validate } from './index.js';
+
+describe('base58Validate', (): void => {
+  it('validates encoded', (): void => {
+    expect(
+      base58Validate('a1UbyspTdnyZXLUQaQbciCxrCWWxz24kgSwGXSQnkbs', false)
+    ).toEqual(true);
+  });
+
+  it('fails on string with extra padding', (): void => {
+    expect(
+      () => base58Validate('a1UbyspTdnyZXLUQaQbciCxrCWWxz24kgSwGXSQnkbs=', false)
+    ).toThrow(/Invalid base58 character "="/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/bs64.ts b/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/bs64.ts
index 1d0099306..5d055fbbf 100644
--- a/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/bs64.ts
+++ b/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/bs64.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ import { createDecode, createEncode, createIs, createValidate } from '../base32/
 const config = {
   chars: 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/',
   coder: base64,
-  type: 'base64'
+  type: 'base64',
+  withPadding: true
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/validate.spec.ts b/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/validate.spec.ts
index ebf5adfe6..fb0ff972f 100644
--- a/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/validate.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/util-crypto/src/base64/validate.spec.ts
@@ -11,4 +11,22 @@ describe('base64Validate', (): void => {
       () => base64Validate('aGVsbG8gd29ybGQg0J/RgNC40LLQtd^GC0YHRgtCy0YPRjiDQvNC4IOS9oOWlvQ==')
     ).toThrow(/Invalid base64 character "\^" \(0x5e\) at index 30/);
   });
+
+  it('validates with one extra padding character', (): void => {
+    expect(
+      base64Validate('bGlnaHQgd28=')
+    ).toEqual(true);
+  });
+
+  it('validates with two extra padding characters', (): void => {
+    expect(
+      base64Validate('bGlnaHQgdw==')
+    ).toEqual(true);
+  });
+
+  it('validates misplaced padding characters', (): void => {
+    expect(
+      () => base64Validate('bGlnaHQgdw=g=')
+    ).toThrow(/Invalid base64 padding sequence "=g"/);
+  });
 });