diff --git a/src/System.Net.WebSockets.Client/src/System/Net/WebSockets/ManagedWebSocket.cs b/src/System.Net.WebSockets.Client/src/System/Net/WebSockets/ManagedWebSocket.cs
index fae31cd3510e..ca2834411b6e 100644
--- a/src/System.Net.WebSockets.Client/src/System/Net/WebSockets/ManagedWebSocket.cs
+++ b/src/System.Net.WebSockets.Client/src/System/Net/WebSockets/ManagedWebSocket.cs
@@ -453,6 +453,7 @@ private int WriteFrameToSendBuffer(MessageOpcode opcode, bool endOfMessage, Arra
 
             // Write the message header data to the buffer.
             int headerLength;
+            int? maskOffset = null;
             if (_isServer)
             {
                 // The server doesn't send a mask, so the mask offset returned by WriteHeader
@@ -463,15 +464,20 @@ private int WriteFrameToSendBuffer(MessageOpcode opcode, bool endOfMessage, Arra
             {
                 // We need to know where the mask starts so that we can use the mask to manipulate the payload data,
                 // and we need to know the total length for sending it on the wire.
-                int maskOffset = WriteHeader(opcode, _sendBuffer, payloadBuffer, endOfMessage, useMask: true);
-                headerLength = maskOffset + MaskLength;
+                maskOffset = WriteHeader(opcode, _sendBuffer, payloadBuffer, endOfMessage, useMask: true);
+                headerLength = maskOffset.GetValueOrDefault() + MaskLength;
+            }
+
+            // Write the payload
+            if (payloadBuffer.Count > 0)
+            {
+                Buffer.BlockCopy(payloadBuffer.Array, payloadBuffer.Offset, _sendBuffer, headerLength, payloadBuffer.Count);
 
-                // If there is payload data, XOR it with the mask.  We do the manipulation in the send buffer so as to avoid
+                // If we added a mask to the header, XOR the payload with the mask.  We do the manipulation in the send buffer so as to avoid
                 // changing the data in the caller-supplied payload buffer.
-                if (payloadBuffer.Count > 0)
+                if (maskOffset.HasValue)
                 {
-                    Buffer.BlockCopy(payloadBuffer.Array, payloadBuffer.Offset, _sendBuffer, headerLength, payloadBuffer.Count);
-                    ApplyMask(_sendBuffer, headerLength, _sendBuffer, maskOffset, 0, payloadBuffer.Count);
+                    ApplyMask(_sendBuffer, headerLength, _sendBuffer, maskOffset.Value, 0, payloadBuffer.Count);
                 }
             }
 
@@ -914,6 +920,9 @@ private bool TryParseMessageHeaderFromReceiveBuffer(out MessageHeader resultHead
                     shouldFail = true;
                 }
                 header.Mask = CombineMaskBytes(_receiveBuffer, _receiveBufferOffset);
+
+                // Consume the mask bytes
+                ConsumeFromBuffer(4);
             }
 
             // Do basic validation of the header