diff --git a/lib/zlib.js b/lib/zlib.js
index 22675651b37105..ef272bc6010886 100644
--- a/lib/zlib.js
+++ b/lib/zlib.js
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ const {
   codes: {
     ERR_BROTLI_INVALID_PARAM,
     ERR_BUFFER_TOO_LARGE,
+    ERR_INTERNAL_ASSERTION,
     ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE,
     ERR_OUT_OF_RANGE,
   },
@@ -353,6 +354,9 @@ ZlibBase.prototype._destroy = function(err, callback) {
 };
 
 ZlibBase.prototype._transform = function(chunk, encoding, cb) {
+  if (!Buffer.isBuffer(chunk)) {
+    throw new ERR_INTERNAL_ASSERTION('Chunk must be a Buffer');
+  }
   let flushFlag = this._defaultFlushFlag;
   // We use a 'fake' zero-length chunk to carry information about flushes from
   // the public API to the actual stream implementation.
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-zlib.js b/test/parallel/test-zlib.js
index 646c7abded1e36..33620269323175 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-zlib.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-zlib.js
@@ -238,3 +238,15 @@ testKeys.forEach(common.mustCall((file) => {
   const gzip = zlib.Gzip();
   assert.ok(gzip instanceof zlib.Gzip);
 }
+
+{
+  // Misuse of stream internals
+  // Issue: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/37884
+  assert.throws(() => zlib.createGunzip()._transform('Hello'), {
+    code: 'ERR_INTERNAL_ASSERTION',
+  });
+
+  assert.throws(() => zlib.createGunzip()._write('Hello'), {
+    code: 'ERR_INTERNAL_ASSERTION',
+  });
+}