diff --git a/src/libtorch.cc b/src/libtorch.cc
index 78acf69..13244fd 100644
--- a/src/libtorch.cc
+++ b/src/libtorch.cc
@@ -1914,6 +1914,7 @@ SetStringInputTensor(
     cudaStream_t stream, const char* host_policy_name)
 {
   bool cuda_copy = false;
+  size_t element_idx = 0;
 
   // For string data type, we always need to have the data on CPU so
   // that we can read string length and construct the string
@@ -1928,7 +1929,7 @@ SetStringInputTensor(
       stream, &cuda_copy);
   if (err != nullptr) {
     RESPOND_AND_SET_NULL_IF_ERROR(response, err);
-    FillStringTensor(input_list, request_element_cnt);
+    FillStringTensor(input_list, request_element_cnt - element_idx);
     return cuda_copy;
   }
 
@@ -1939,19 +1940,64 @@ SetStringInputTensor(
   }
 #endif  // TRITON_ENABLE_GPU
 
-  std::vector<std::pair<const char*, const uint32_t>> str_list;
-  err = ValidateStringBuffer(
-      content, content_byte_size, request_element_cnt, name, &str_list);
-  // Set string values.
-  for (const auto& [addr, len] : str_list) {
-    input_list->push_back(std::string(addr, len));
+  // Parse content and assign to 'tensor'. Each string in 'content'
+  // is a 4-byte length followed by the string itself with no
+  // null-terminator.
+  while (content_byte_size >= sizeof(uint32_t)) {
+    if (element_idx >= request_element_cnt) {
+      RESPOND_AND_SET_NULL_IF_ERROR(
+          response,
+          TRITONSERVER_ErrorNew(
+              TRITONSERVER_ERROR_INVALID_ARG,
+              std::string(
+                  "unexpected number of string elements " +
+                  std::to_string(element_idx + 1) + " for inference input '" +
+                  name + "', expecting " + std::to_string(request_element_cnt))
+                  .c_str()));
+      return cuda_copy;
+    }
+
+    const uint32_t len = *(reinterpret_cast<const uint32_t*>(content));
+    content += sizeof(uint32_t);
+    content_byte_size -= sizeof(uint32_t);
+
+    if (content_byte_size < len) {
+      RESPOND_AND_SET_NULL_IF_ERROR(
+          response,
+          TRITONSERVER_ErrorNew(
+              TRITONSERVER_ERROR_INVALID_ARG,
+              std::string(
+                  "incomplete string data for inference input '" +
+                  std::string(name) + "', expecting string of length " +
+                  std::to_string(len) + " but only " +
+                  std::to_string(content_byte_size) + " bytes available")
+                  .c_str()));
+      FillStringTensor(input_list, request_element_cnt - element_idx);
+      return cuda_copy;
+    }
+
+    // Set string value
+    input_list->push_back(std::string(content, len));
+
+    content += len;
+    content_byte_size -= len;
+    element_idx++;
   }
 
-  size_t element_cnt = str_list.size();
-  if (err != nullptr) {
-    RESPOND_AND_SET_NULL_IF_ERROR(response, err);
-    FillStringTensor(input_list, request_element_cnt - element_cnt);
+  if ((*response != nullptr) && (element_idx != request_element_cnt)) {
+    RESPOND_AND_SET_NULL_IF_ERROR(
+        response, TRITONSERVER_ErrorNew(
+                      TRITONSERVER_ERROR_INTERNAL,
+                      std::string(
+                          "expected " + std::to_string(request_element_cnt) +
+                          " strings for inference input '" + name + "', got " +
+                          std::to_string(element_idx))
+                          .c_str()));
+    if (element_idx < request_element_cnt) {
+      FillStringTensor(input_list, request_element_cnt - element_idx);
+    }
   }
+
   return cuda_copy;
 }