diff --git a/datetime/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310StringParsableDeserializer.java b/datetime/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310StringParsableDeserializer.java
index 96596a34..31d25f25 100644
--- a/datetime/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310StringParsableDeserializer.java
+++ b/datetime/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310StringParsableDeserializer.java
@@ -131,7 +131,15 @@ public Object deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOEx
         } else if (p.hasToken(JsonToken.VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT)) {
             // 20-Apr-2016, tatu: Related to [databind#1208], can try supporting embedded
             //    values quite easily
-            return p.getEmbeddedObject();
+            // [modules-java8#389]: only accept a value of this type. A byte[] must
+            // not be stored as a ZoneId, Period, or ZoneOffset.
+            Object embedded = p.getEmbeddedObject();
+            if (embedded == null || handledType().isInstance(embedded)) {
+                return embedded;
+            }
+            return _handleUnexpectedToken(ctxt, p,
+                    "Unexpected embedded value of type %s",
+                    embedded.getClass().getName());
         } else if (p.isExpectedStartArrayToken()) {
             return _deserializeFromArray(p, ctxt);
         }
diff --git a/datetime/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310EmbeddedObjectDeserTest.java b/datetime/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310EmbeddedObjectDeserTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7e1beea6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datetime/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jsr310/deser/JSR310EmbeddedObjectDeserTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+package com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype.jsr310.deser;
+
+import java.time.Period;
+import java.time.ZoneId;
+import java.time.ZoneOffset;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.MismatchedInputException;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype.jsr310.ModuleTestBase;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertInstanceOf;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
+
+// [modules-java8#389]
+public class JSR310EmbeddedObjectDeserTest extends ModuleTestBase
+{
+    private final ObjectMapper MAPPER = newMapper();
+
+    @Test
+    public void testZoneIdRejectsEmbeddedBytes() {
+        ObjectNode node = MAPPER.createObjectNode();
+        node.putPOJO("zone", new byte[] { (byte) 0xDE, (byte) 0xAD });
+
+        IllegalArgumentException e = assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () ->
+                MAPPER.convertValue(node, new TypeReference<Map<String, ZoneId>>() { }));
+        assertInstanceOf(MismatchedInputException.class, e.getCause());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testZoneIdAcceptsEmbeddedZoneId() {
+        ObjectNode node = MAPPER.createObjectNode();
+        node.putPOJO("zone", ZoneId.of("UTC"));
+
+        Map<String, ZoneId> result = MAPPER.convertValue(node,
+                new TypeReference<Map<String, ZoneId>>() { });
+        assertEquals(ZoneId.of("UTC"), result.get("zone"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testPeriodRejectsEmbeddedBytes() {
+        ObjectNode node = MAPPER.createObjectNode();
+        node.putPOJO("period", new byte[] { 1, 2 });
+
+        IllegalArgumentException e = assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () ->
+                MAPPER.convertValue(node, new TypeReference<Map<String, Period>>() { }));
+        assertInstanceOf(MismatchedInputException.class, e.getCause());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testZoneOffsetRejectsEmbeddedBytes() {
+        ObjectNode node = MAPPER.createObjectNode();
+        node.putPOJO("offset", new byte[] { 1, 2 });
+
+        IllegalArgumentException e = assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () ->
+                MAPPER.convertValue(node, new TypeReference<Map<String, ZoneOffset>>() { }));
+        assertInstanceOf(MismatchedInputException.class, e.getCause());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x b/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
index c8693d31..c6d1fbe7 100644
--- a/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
@@ -243,3 +243,13 @@ Seonwoo Jung (@seonwooj0810)
  * Contributed fix for #76: Missing milliseconds, when serializing Java 8 date-time,
    if they are zeros
   (2.23.0)
+
+Manqing Zhou (@manqingzhou)
+ * Reported #389: Validate embedded objects (`JsonToken.VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT`)
+   against expected `java.time` type, instead of returning them as-is
+  (2.23.0)
+
+Aditya Bagla (@adityabagla7)
+ * Contributed fix for #389: Validate embedded objects (`JsonToken.VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT`)
+   against expected `java.time` type, instead of returning them as-is
+  (2.23.0)
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
index 559b4889..02ec9155 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ Modules:
   `JavaTimeFeature.ALWAYS_WRITE_SUBSECOND_DIGITS`)
  (reported by @rycler)
  (fix contributed by Seonwoo J)
+#389: Validate embedded objects (`JsonToken.VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT`) against
+  expected `java.time` type, instead of returning them as-is
+ (reported by @manqingzhou)
+ (fix contributed by Aditya B)
 
 2.22.3 (21-Sep-2026)
 2.22.2 (16-Aug-2026)