diff --git a/ssh/client_test.go b/ssh/client_test.go
index ef95069..81f9599 100644
--- a/ssh/client_test.go
+++ b/ssh/client_test.go
@@ -5,41 +5,77 @@
 package ssh
 
 import (
-	"net"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
 
-func testClientVersion(t *testing.T, config *ClientConfig, expected string) {
-	clientConn, serverConn := net.Pipe()
-	defer clientConn.Close()
-	receivedVersion := make(chan string, 1)
-	config.HostKeyCallback = InsecureIgnoreHostKey()
-	go func() {
-		version, err := readVersion(serverConn)
-		if err != nil {
-			receivedVersion <- ""
-		} else {
-			receivedVersion <- string(version)
-		}
-		serverConn.Close()
-	}()
-	NewClientConn(clientConn, "", config)
-	actual := <-receivedVersion
-	if actual != expected {
-		t.Fatalf("got %s; want %s", actual, expected)
+func TestClientVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tt := range []struct {
+		name      string
+		version   string
+		multiLine string
+		wantErr   bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:    "default version",
+			version: packageVersion,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "custom version",
+			version: "SSH-2.0-CustomClientVersionString",
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "good multi line version",
+			version:   packageVersion,
+			multiLine: strings.Repeat("ignored\r\n", 20),
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "bad multi line version",
+			version:   packageVersion,
+			multiLine: "bad multi line version",
+			wantErr:   true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "long multi line version",
+			version:   packageVersion,
+			multiLine: strings.Repeat("long multi line version\r\n", 50)[:256],
+			wantErr:   true,
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			c1, c2, err := netPipe()
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("netPipe: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer c1.Close()
+			defer c2.Close()
+			go func() {
+				if tt.multiLine != "" {
+					c1.Write([]byte(tt.multiLine))
+				}
+				NewClientConn(c1, "", &ClientConfig{
+					ClientVersion:   tt.version,
+					HostKeyCallback: InsecureIgnoreHostKey(),
+				})
+				c1.Close()
+			}()
+			conf := &ServerConfig{NoClientAuth: true}
+			conf.AddHostKey(testSigners["rsa"])
+			conn, _, _, err := NewServerConn(c2, conf)
+			if err == nil == tt.wantErr {
+				t.Fatalf("got err %v; wantErr %t", err, tt.wantErr)
+			}
+			if tt.wantErr {
+				// Don't verify the version on an expected error.
+				return
+			}
+			if got := string(conn.ClientVersion()); got != tt.version {
+				t.Fatalf("got %q; want %q", got, tt.version)
+			}
+		})
 	}
 }
 
-func TestCustomClientVersion(t *testing.T) {
-	version := "Test-Client-Version-0.0"
-	testClientVersion(t, &ClientConfig{ClientVersion: version}, version)
-}
-
-func TestDefaultClientVersion(t *testing.T) {
-	testClientVersion(t, &ClientConfig{}, packageVersion)
-}
-
 func TestHostKeyCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tt := range []struct {
 		name      string
diff --git a/ssh/transport.go b/ssh/transport.go
index 01150eb..82da0d7 100644
--- a/ssh/transport.go
+++ b/ssh/transport.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package ssh
 
 import (
 	"bufio"
+	"bytes"
 	"errors"
 	"io"
 	"log"
@@ -342,7 +343,7 @@ func readVersion(r io.Reader) ([]byte, error) {
 	var ok bool
 	var buf [1]byte
 
-	for len(versionString) < maxVersionStringBytes {
+	for length := 0; length < maxVersionStringBytes; length++ {
 		_, err := io.ReadFull(r, buf[:])
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -350,6 +351,13 @@ func readVersion(r io.Reader) ([]byte, error) {
 		// The RFC says that the version should be terminated with \r\n
 		// but several SSH servers actually only send a \n.
 		if buf[0] == '\n' {
+			if !bytes.HasPrefix(versionString, []byte("SSH-")) {
+				// RFC 4253 says we need to ignore all version string lines
+				// except the one containing the SSH version (provided that
+				// all the lines do not exceed 255 bytes in total).
+				versionString = versionString[:0]
+				continue
+			}
 			ok = true
 			break
 		}
diff --git a/ssh/transport_test.go b/ssh/transport_test.go
index 92d83ab..8445e1e 100644
--- a/ssh/transport_test.go
+++ b/ssh/transport_test.go
@@ -13,11 +13,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestReadVersion(t *testing.T) {
-	longversion := strings.Repeat("SSH-2.0-bla", 50)[:253]
+	longVersion := strings.Repeat("SSH-2.0-bla", 50)[:253]
+	multiLineVersion := strings.Repeat("ignored\r\n", 20) + "SSH-2.0-bla\r\n"
 	cases := map[string]string{
 		"SSH-2.0-bla\r\n":    "SSH-2.0-bla",
 		"SSH-2.0-bla\n":      "SSH-2.0-bla",
-		longversion + "\r\n": longversion,
+		multiLineVersion:     "SSH-2.0-bla",
+		longVersion + "\r\n": longVersion,
 	}
 
 	for in, want := range cases {
@@ -33,9 +35,11 @@ func TestReadVersion(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestReadVersionError(t *testing.T) {
-	longversion := strings.Repeat("SSH-2.0-bla", 50)[:253]
+	longVersion := strings.Repeat("SSH-2.0-bla", 50)[:253]
+	multiLineVersion := strings.Repeat("ignored\r\n", 50) + "SSH-2.0-bla\r\n"
 	cases := []string{
-		longversion + "too-long\r\n",
+		longVersion + "too-long\r\n",
+		multiLineVersion,
 	}
 	for _, in := range cases {
 		if _, err := readVersion(bytes.NewBufferString(in)); err == nil {
@@ -60,7 +64,7 @@ func TestExchangeVersionsBasic(t *testing.T) {
 func TestExchangeVersions(t *testing.T) {
 	cases := []string{
 		"not\x000allowed",
-		"not allowed\n",
+		"not allowed\x01\r\n",
 	}
 	for _, c := range cases {
 		buf := bytes.NewBufferString("SSH-2.0-bla\r\n")