diff --git a/pdns/dnsname.cc b/pdns/dnsname.cc
index 25a90078a8908..80f43368e0a4a 100644
--- a/pdns/dnsname.cc
+++ b/pdns/dnsname.cc
@@ -99,8 +99,7 @@ DNSName::DNSName(const std::string_view sw)
   }
 }
 
-
-DNSName::DNSName(const char* pos, int len, int offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype, uint16_t* qclass, unsigned int* consumed, uint16_t minOffset)
+DNSName::DNSName(const char* pos, size_t len, size_t offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype, uint16_t* qclass, unsigned int* consumed, uint16_t minOffset)
 {
   if (offset >= len)
     throw std::range_error("Trying to read past the end of the buffer ("+std::to_string(offset)+ " >= "+std::to_string(len)+")");
@@ -115,7 +114,7 @@ DNSName::DNSName(const char* pos, int len, int offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t
 }
 
 // this should be the __only__ dns name parser in PowerDNS.
-void DNSName::packetParser(const char* qpos, int len, int offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype, uint16_t* qclass, unsigned int* consumed, int depth, uint16_t minOffset)
+void DNSName::packetParser(const char* qpos, size_t len, size_t offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype, uint16_t* qclass, unsigned int* consumed, int depth, uint16_t minOffset)
 {
   const unsigned char* pos=(const unsigned char*)qpos;
   unsigned char labellen;
diff --git a/pdns/dnsname.hh b/pdns/dnsname.hh
index 2350d2bd3b8a3..b338a532958d9 100644
--- a/pdns/dnsname.hh
+++ b/pdns/dnsname.hh
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ public:
   DNSName(DNSName&& a) = default;
 
   explicit DNSName(std::string_view sw); //!< Constructs from a human formatted, escaped presentation
-  DNSName(const char* p, int len, int offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype = nullptr, uint16_t* qclass = nullptr, unsigned int* consumed = nullptr, uint16_t minOffset = 0); //!< Construct from a DNS Packet, taking the first question if offset=12. If supplied, consumed is set to the number of bytes consumed from the packet, which will not be equal to the wire length of the resulting name in case of compression.
+  DNSName(const char* p, size_t len, size_t offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype = nullptr, uint16_t* qclass = nullptr, unsigned int* consumed = nullptr, uint16_t minOffset = 0); //!< Construct from a DNS Packet, taking the first question if offset=12. If supplied, consumed is set to the number of bytes consumed from the packet, which will not be equal to the wire length of the resulting name in case of compression.
 
   bool isPartOf(const DNSName& rhs) const;   //!< Are we part of the rhs name? Note that name.isPartOf(name).
   inline bool operator==(const DNSName& rhs) const; //!< DNS-native comparison (case insensitive) - empty compares to empty
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ public:
 private:
   string_t d_storage;
 
-  void packetParser(const char* p, int len, int offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype, uint16_t* qclass, unsigned int* consumed, int depth, uint16_t minOffset);
+  void packetParser(const char* p, size_t len, size_t offset, bool uncompress, uint16_t* qtype, uint16_t* qclass, unsigned int* consumed, int depth, uint16_t minOffset);
   static void appendEscapedLabel(std::string& appendTo, const char* orig, size_t len);
   static std::string unescapeLabel(const std::string& orig);
   static void throwSafeRangeError(const std::string& msg, const char* buf, size_t length);