diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/codec/StringDecoder.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/codec/StringDecoder.java
index 15e6325f721..031fe10a7db 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/codec/StringDecoder.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/codec/StringDecoder.java
@@ -143,13 +143,14 @@ public final class StringDecoder extends AbstractDataBufferDecoder<String> {
 	private Collection<DataBuffer> processDataBuffer(
 			DataBuffer buffer, DataBufferUtils.Matcher matcher, LimitedDataBufferList chunks) {
 
+		boolean release = true;
 		try {
 			List<DataBuffer> result = null;
 			do {
 				int endIndex = matcher.match(buffer);
 				if (endIndex == -1) {
 					chunks.add(buffer);
-					DataBufferUtils.retain(buffer); // retain after add (may raise DataBufferLimitException)
+					release = false;
 					break;
 				}
 				DataBuffer split = buffer.split(endIndex + 1);
@@ -177,7 +178,9 @@ public final class StringDecoder extends AbstractDataBufferDecoder<String> {
 			return (result != null ? result : Collections.emptyList());
 		}
 		finally {
-			DataBufferUtils.release(buffer);
+			if (release) {
+				DataBufferUtils.release(buffer);
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/WebClientIntegrationTests.java b/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/WebClientIntegrationTests.java
index 8be90ef25b3..07c5adaa05a 100644
--- a/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/WebClientIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/WebClientIntegrationTests.java
@@ -1258,6 +1258,26 @@ class WebClientIntegrationTests {
 				.verify();
 	}
 
+	@ParameterizedWebClientTest
+	void retrieveTextDecodedToFlux(ClientHttpConnector connector) {
+		startServer(connector);
+
+		prepareResponse(response -> response
+				.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain")
+				.setBody("Hey now"));
+
+		Flux<String> result = this.webClient.get()
+				.uri("/")
+				.accept(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
+				.retrieve()
+				.bodyToFlux(String.class);
+
+		StepVerifier.create(result)
+				.expectNext("Hey now")
+				.expectComplete()
+				.verify(Duration.ofSeconds(3));
+	}
+
 	private <T> Mono<T> doMalformedChunkedResponseTest(
 			ClientHttpConnector connector, Function<ResponseSpec, Mono<T>> handler) {