diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/nixl/conn.py b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/nixl/conn.py
index 30965357e..5375b7096 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/nixl/conn.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/nixl/conn.py
@@ -907,6 +907,19 @@ class NixlKVManager(CommonKVManager):
     def _prepare_payload_xfer(self, peer_info: KVArgsRegisterInfo):
         assert self.src_mem_kind is not None
         src_mem_kind = self.src_mem_kind
+
+        # If prefill does not run speculative decoding (the usual case),
+        # decode with speculative decoding will have more kv items.
+        # Prefill having more kv items is impossible.
+        n_src = len(self.kv_args.kv_item_lens)
+        n_dst = len(peer_info.dst_kv_item_lens)
+        if n_dst < n_src:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "NIXL PD transfer: decode registered fewer KV regions "
+                f"({n_dst}) than prefill ({n_src}); unexpected geometry"
+            )
+        decode_only_spec_dec = n_dst > n_src
+
         if self.is_mla_backend or peer_info.decode_tp_size == self.attn_tp_size:
             dst_mem_kind = None
             try:
@@ -914,6 +927,11 @@ class NixlKVManager(CommonKVManager):
                     peer_info.dst_kv_mem_kinds, "destination"
                 )
             except NotImplementedError:
+                if decode_only_spec_dec:
+                    raise NotImplementedError(
+                        "NIXL PD transfer does not support HiSparse combined with "
+                        "decode-only speculative decoding."
+                    )
                 mem_segments = _kv_xfer_mem_segments(
                     self.kv_args.kv_data_mem_kinds, peer_info.dst_kv_mem_kinds
                 )
@@ -922,6 +940,12 @@ class NixlKVManager(CommonKVManager):
                 self._init_mixed_equal_tp_prep_handles(peer_info, mem_segments)
                 return
 
+            if decode_only_spec_dec and dst_mem_kind != "VRAM":
+                raise NotImplementedError(
+                    "NIXL PD transfer does not support HiSparse combined with "
+                    "decode-only speculative decoding."
+                )
+
             peer_info.dst_homogeneous_mem_kind = dst_mem_kind
             # Build the shared src dlist on the first equal-TP/MLA peer; later
             # peers reuse it. Skipped entirely on heterogeneous-TP-only setups.
@@ -937,13 +961,15 @@ class NixlKVManager(CommonKVManager):
                 if peer_info.dst_num_slots is not None
                 else self._num_slots_src
             )
-            dst_kv_item_lens = peer_info.dst_kv_item_lens
+
+            dst_kv_ptrs = peer_info.dst_kv_ptrs[:n_src]
+            dst_kv_item_lens = peer_info.dst_kv_item_lens[:n_src]
             dst_kv_data_lens = [
                 item_len * dst_num_slots for item_len in dst_kv_item_lens
             ]
             self._init_equal_tp_prep_handle(
                 peer_info.agent_name,
-                peer_info.dst_kv_ptrs,
+                dst_kv_ptrs,
                 peer_info.gpu_id,
                 num_slots=peer_info.dst_num_slots,
                 mem_kind=dst_mem_kind,