diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/MaxUploadSizeExceededException.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/MaxUploadSizeExceededException.java
index fce24534467..b267f3b68eb 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/MaxUploadSizeExceededException.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/MaxUploadSizeExceededException.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ public class MaxUploadSizeExceededException extends MultipartException {
 
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for MaxUploadSizeExceededException.
-	 * @param maxUploadSize the maximum upload size allowed
+	 * @param maxUploadSize the maximum upload size allowed,
+	 * or -1 if the size limit isn't known
 	 */
 	public MaxUploadSizeExceededException(long maxUploadSize) {
 		this(maxUploadSize, null);
@@ -39,17 +40,19 @@ public class MaxUploadSizeExceededException extends MultipartException {
 
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for MaxUploadSizeExceededException.
-	 * @param maxUploadSize the maximum upload size allowed
+	 * @param maxUploadSize the maximum upload size allowed,
+	 * or -1 if the size limit isn't known
 	 * @param ex root cause from multipart parsing API in use
 	 */
 	public MaxUploadSizeExceededException(long maxUploadSize, Throwable ex) {
-		super("Maximum upload size of " + maxUploadSize + " bytes exceeded", ex);
+		super("Maximum upload size " + (maxUploadSize >= 0 ? "of " + maxUploadSize + " bytes " : "") + "exceeded", ex);
 		this.maxUploadSize = maxUploadSize;
 	}
 
 
 	/**
-	 * Return the maximum upload size allowed.
+	 * Return the maximum upload size allowed,
+	 * or -1 if the size limit isn't known.
 	 */
 	public long getMaxUploadSize() {
 		return this.maxUploadSize;
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/support/StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/support/StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest.java
index b7fc59690ca..e696d11788b 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/support/StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/multipart/support/StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2016 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 import org.springframework.util.FileCopyUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.LinkedMultiValueMap;
 import org.springframework.util.MultiValueMap;
+import org.springframework.web.multipart.MaxUploadSizeExceededException;
 import org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartException;
 import org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartFile;
 
@@ -106,13 +107,17 @@ public class StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest extends AbstractMultipartHttpSe
 			}
 			setMultipartFiles(files);
 		}
-		catch (Exception ex) {
-			throw new MultipartException("Could not parse multipart servlet request", ex);
+		catch (Throwable ex) {
+			handleParseFailure(ex);
 		}
 	}
 
-	private String extractFilename(String contentDisposition) {
-		return extractFilename(contentDisposition, FILENAME_KEY);
+	protected void handleParseFailure(Throwable ex) {
+		String msg = ex.getMessage();
+		if (msg != null && msg.contains("size") && msg.contains("exceed")) {
+			throw new MaxUploadSizeExceededException(-1, ex);
+		}
+		throw new MultipartException("Failed to parse multipart servlet request", ex);
 	}
 
 	private String extractFilename(String contentDisposition, String key) {
@@ -139,6 +144,10 @@ public class StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest extends AbstractMultipartHttpSe
 		return filename;
 	}
 
+	private String extractFilename(String contentDisposition) {
+		return extractFilename(contentDisposition, FILENAME_KEY);
+	}
+
 	private String extractFilenameWithCharset(String contentDisposition) {
 		String filename = extractFilename(contentDisposition, FILENAME_WITH_CHARSET_KEY);
 		if (filename == null) {
@@ -219,7 +228,7 @@ public class StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest extends AbstractMultipartHttpSe
 			Part part = getPart(paramOrFileName);
 			return (part != null ? part.getContentType() : null);
 		}
-		catch (Exception ex) {
+		catch (Throwable ex) {
 			throw new MultipartException("Could not access multipart servlet request", ex);
 		}
 	}
@@ -239,7 +248,7 @@ public class StandardMultipartHttpServletRequest extends AbstractMultipartHttpSe
 				return null;
 			}
 		}
-		catch (Exception ex) {
+		catch (Throwable ex) {
 			throw new MultipartException("Could not access multipart servlet request", ex);
 		}
 	}