diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ceccc576737..da479b1a02e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 * [BUGFIX] Fix issue where sharded queries could return annotations with incorrect or confusing position information. #9536
 * [BUGFIX] Fix issue where downstream consumers may not generate correct cache keys for experimental error caching. #9644
 * [BUGFIX] Fix issue where active series requests error when encountering a stale posting. #9580
+* [BUGFIX] Fix pooling buffer reuse logic when `-distributor.max-request-pool-buffer-size` is set. #9666
 
 ### Mixin
 
diff --git a/pkg/distributor/distributor.go b/pkg/distributor/distributor.go
index d7feae79ef1..7ca90a4185e 100644
--- a/pkg/distributor/distributor.go
+++ b/pkg/distributor/distributor.go
@@ -324,12 +324,7 @@ func New(cfg Config, clientConfig ingester_client.Config, limits *validation.Ove
 	subservices := []services.Service(nil)
 	subservices = append(subservices, haTracker)
 
-	var requestBufferPool util.Pool
-	if cfg.MaxRequestPoolBufferSize > 0 {
-		requestBufferPool = util.NewBucketedBufferPool(1<<10, cfg.MaxRequestPoolBufferSize, 4)
-	} else {
-		requestBufferPool = util.NewBufferPool()
-	}
+	requestBufferPool := util.NewBufferPool(cfg.MaxRequestPoolBufferSize)
 
 	d := &Distributor{
 		cfg:                   cfg,
diff --git a/pkg/distributor/push_test.go b/pkg/distributor/push_test.go
index 48c6f00ba41..686373bc823 100644
--- a/pkg/distributor/push_test.go
+++ b/pkg/distributor/push_test.go
@@ -1183,7 +1183,7 @@ func TestOTLPPushHandlerErrorsAreReportedCorrectlyViaHttpgrpc(t *testing.T) {
 
 		return nil
 	}
-	h := OTLPHandler(200, util.NewBufferPool(), nil, otlpLimitsMock{}, RetryConfig{}, push, newPushMetrics(reg), reg, log.NewNopLogger())
+	h := OTLPHandler(200, util.NewBufferPool(0), nil, otlpLimitsMock{}, RetryConfig{}, push, newPushMetrics(reg), reg, log.NewNopLogger())
 	srv.HTTP.Handle("/otlp", h)
 
 	// start the server
diff --git a/pkg/util/requestbuffers.go b/pkg/util/requestbuffers.go
index 68c39d3a59d..41cbf9eb97e 100644
--- a/pkg/util/requestbuffers.go
+++ b/pkg/util/requestbuffers.go
@@ -5,45 +5,45 @@ package util
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"sync"
-
-	"github.com/grafana/mimir/pkg/util/pool"
 )
 
+const defaultPoolBufferCap = 256 * 1024
+
 // Pool is an abstraction for a pool of byte slices.
 type Pool interface {
-	// Get returns a new byte slices that fits the given size.
-	Get(sz int) []byte
+	// Get returns a new byte slices.
+	Get() []byte
 
 	// Put puts a slice back into the pool.
 	Put(s []byte)
 }
 
 type bufferPool struct {
-	p sync.Pool
+	maxBufferCap int
+	p            sync.Pool
 }
 
-func (p *bufferPool) Get(_ int) []byte { return p.p.Get().([]byte) }
-func (p *bufferPool) Put(s []byte)     { p.p.Put(s) } //nolint:staticcheck
+func (p *bufferPool) Get() []byte { return p.p.Get().([]byte) }
+func (p *bufferPool) Put(s []byte) {
+	if p.maxBufferCap > 0 && cap(s) > p.maxBufferCap {
+		return // Discard large buffers
+	}
+	p.p.Put(s) //nolint:staticcheck
+}
 
 // NewBufferPool returns a new Pool for byte slices.
-func NewBufferPool() Pool {
+// If maxBufferCapacity is 0, the pool will not have a maximum capacity.
+func NewBufferPool(maxBufferCapacity int) Pool {
 	return &bufferPool{
+		maxBufferCap: maxBufferCapacity,
 		p: sync.Pool{
 			New: func() interface{} {
-				return make([]byte, 0, 256*1024)
+				return make([]byte, 0, defaultPoolBufferCap)
 			},
 		},
 	}
 }
 
-// NewBucketedBufferPool returns a new Pool for byte slices with bucketing.
-// The pool will have buckets for sizes from minSize to maxSize increasing by the given factor.
-func NewBucketedBufferPool(minSize, maxSize int, factor float64) Pool {
-	return pool.NewBucketedPool(minSize, maxSize, factor, func(sz int) []byte {
-		return make([]byte, 0, sz)
-	})
-}
-
 // RequestBuffers provides pooled request buffers.
 type RequestBuffers struct {
 	p       Pool
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func (rb *RequestBuffers) Get(size int) *bytes.Buffer {
 		return bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, size))
 	}
 
-	b := rb.p.Get(size)
+	b := rb.p.Get()
 	buf := bytes.NewBuffer(b)
 	buf.Reset()
 	if size > 0 {
diff --git a/pkg/util/requestbuffers_test.go b/pkg/util/requestbuffers_test.go
index a72901bdd3e..3f857190ff7 100644
--- a/pkg/util/requestbuffers_test.go
+++ b/pkg/util/requestbuffers_test.go
@@ -10,14 +10,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestRequestBuffers(t *testing.T) {
-	const maxBufferSize = 32 * 1024
-
-	rb := NewRequestBuffers(&fakePool{maxBufferSize: maxBufferSize})
+	rb := NewRequestBuffers(&fakePool{})
 	t.Cleanup(rb.CleanUp)
 
 	b := rb.Get(1024)
 	require.NotNil(t, b)
-	assert.Equal(t, 1024, b.Cap())
+	assert.GreaterOrEqual(t, b.Cap(), 1024)
 	assert.Zero(t, b.Len())
 	// Make sure that the buffer gets reset upon next Get
 	_, err := b.Write([]byte("test"))
@@ -30,20 +28,9 @@ func TestRequestBuffers(t *testing.T) {
 	// to test if it reuses the previously returned buffer.
 	b1 := rb.Get(1024)
 	assert.Same(t, unsafe.SliceData(b1.Bytes()), unsafe.SliceData(b.Bytes()))
-	assert.Equal(t, 1024, b1.Cap())
+	assert.GreaterOrEqual(t, b1.Cap(), 1024)
 	assert.Zero(t, b1.Len())
 
-	// Retrieve a buffer larger than maxBufferSize to ensure
-	// it doesn't get reused.
-	b2 := rb.Get(maxBufferSize + 1)
-	assert.Equal(t, maxBufferSize+1, b2.Cap())
-	assert.Zero(t, b2.Len())
-
-	rb.CleanUp()
-
-	b3 := rb.Get(maxBufferSize + 1)
-	assert.NotSame(t, unsafe.SliceData(b2.Bytes()), unsafe.SliceData(b3.Bytes()))
-
 	t.Run("as nil pointer", func(t *testing.T) {
 		var rb *RequestBuffers
 		b := rb.Get(1024)
@@ -60,24 +47,56 @@ func TestRequestBuffers(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestRequestsBuffersMaxPoolBufferSize(t *testing.T) {
+	const maxPoolBufferCap = defaultPoolBufferCap
+
+	t.Run("pool buffer is reused when size is less or equal to maxBufferSize", func(t *testing.T) {
+		rb := NewRequestBuffers(&fakePool{maxBufferCap: maxPoolBufferCap})
+		t.Cleanup(rb.CleanUp)
+
+		b0 := rb.Get(maxPoolBufferCap)
+		require.NotNil(t, b0)
+		assert.Zero(t, b0.Len())
+		assert.GreaterOrEqual(t, b0.Cap(), maxPoolBufferCap)
+
+		rb.CleanUp()
+
+		b1 := rb.Get(maxPoolBufferCap)
+		assert.Same(t, unsafe.SliceData(b0.Bytes()), unsafe.SliceData(b1.Bytes()))
+	})
+	t.Run("pool buffer is not reused when size is greater than maxBufferSize", func(t *testing.T) {
+		rb := NewRequestBuffers(NewBufferPool(maxPoolBufferCap))
+		t.Cleanup(rb.CleanUp)
+
+		b0 := rb.Get(maxPoolBufferCap + 1)
+		require.NotNil(t, b0)
+		assert.Zero(t, b0.Len())
+		assert.GreaterOrEqual(t, b0.Cap(), maxPoolBufferCap+1)
+
+		rb.CleanUp()
+
+		b1 := rb.Get(maxPoolBufferCap + 1)
+		assert.NotSame(t, unsafe.SliceData(b0.Bytes()), unsafe.SliceData(b1.Bytes()))
+	})
+}
+
 type fakePool struct {
-	maxBufferSize int
-	buffers       [][]byte
+	maxBufferCap int
+	buffers      [][]byte
 }
 
-func (p *fakePool) Get(sz int) []byte {
-	if sz <= p.maxBufferSize {
-		for i, b := range p.buffers {
-			if cap(b) < sz {
-				continue
-			}
-			p.buffers = append(p.buffers[:i], p.buffers[i+1:]...)
-			return b
-		}
+func (p *fakePool) Get() []byte {
+	if len(p.buffers) > 0 {
+		buf := p.buffers[0]
+		p.buffers = p.buffers[1:]
+		return buf
 	}
-	return make([]byte, 0, sz)
+	return make([]byte, 0, defaultPoolBufferCap)
 }
 
 func (p *fakePool) Put(s []byte) {
+	if p.maxBufferCap > 0 && cap(s) > p.maxBufferCap {
+		return
+	}
 	p.buffers = append(p.buffers, s[:0])
 }
diff --git a/tools/trafficdump/parser.go b/tools/trafficdump/parser.go
index 99fe2ca95c5..d00fadd993e 100644
--- a/tools/trafficdump/parser.go
+++ b/tools/trafficdump/parser.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import (
 
 const maxBufferPoolSize = 1024 * 1024
 
-var bufferPool = util.NewBucketedBufferPool(1e3, maxBufferPoolSize, 2)
+var bufferPool = util.NewBufferPool(maxBufferPoolSize)
 
 type parser struct {
 	processorConfig processorConfig