diff --git a/consensus/XDPoS/engines/engine_v2/engine.go b/consensus/XDPoS/engines/engine_v2/engine.go
index eaa4c8b704f1..0906da00e34e 100644
--- a/consensus/XDPoS/engines/engine_v2/engine.go
+++ b/consensus/XDPoS/engines/engine_v2/engine.go
@@ -582,6 +582,7 @@ func (x *XDPoS_v2) VerifyVoteMessage(chain consensus.ChainReader, vote *types.Vo
 	snapshot, err := x.getSnapshot(chain, vote.GapNumber, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Error("[VerifyVoteMessage] fail to get snapshot for a vote message", "BlockNum", vote.ProposedBlockInfo.Number, "Hash", vote.ProposedBlockInfo.Hash, "Error", err.Error())
+		return false, err
 	}
 	verified, _, err := x.verifyMsgSignature(types.VoteSigHash(&types.VoteForSign{
 		ProposedBlockInfo: vote.ProposedBlockInfo,
diff --git a/consensus/tests/engine_v2_tests/vote_test.go b/consensus/tests/engine_v2_tests/vote_test.go
index 71d92c405cc7..d135b5d20c4a 100644
--- a/consensus/tests/engine_v2_tests/vote_test.go
+++ b/consensus/tests/engine_v2_tests/vote_test.go
@@ -510,6 +510,32 @@ func TestVerifyVoteMsg(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
 }
 
+func TestVoteMsgMissingSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
+	blockchain, _, currentBlock, signer, signFn, _ := PrepareXDCTestBlockChainForV2Engine(t, 915, params.TestXDPoSMockChainConfig, nil)
+	engineV2 := blockchain.Engine().(*XDPoS.XDPoS).EngineV2
+
+	blockInfo := &utils.BlockInfo{
+		Hash:   currentBlock.Hash(),
+		Round:  utils.Round(14),
+		Number: big.NewInt(915),
+	}
+	voteForSign := &utils.VoteForSign{
+		ProposedBlockInfo: blockInfo,
+		GapNumber:         450,
+	}
+
+	signHash, _ := signFn(accounts.Account{Address: signer}, utils.VoteSigHash(voteForSign).Bytes())
+	voteMsg := &utils.Vote{
+		ProposedBlockInfo: blockInfo,
+		Signature:         signHash,
+		GapNumber:         1350, // missing 1350 snapshot
+	}
+	engineV2.SetNewRoundFaker(blockchain, utils.Round(14), false)
+	verified, err := engineV2.VerifyVoteMessage(blockchain, voteMsg)
+	assert.False(t, verified)
+	assert.NotNil(t, err)
+}
+
 func TestVoteMessageHandlerWrongGapNumber(t *testing.T) {
 	blockchain, _, currentBlock, signer, signFn, _ := PrepareXDCTestBlockChainForV2Engine(t, 905, params.TestXDPoSMockChainConfig, nil)
 	engineV2 := blockchain.Engine().(*XDPoS.XDPoS).EngineV2