diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 123c1f38b0..fa2017a152 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 2.1.12
+ * Reject counter writes in CQLSSTableWriter (CASSANDRA-10258)
  * Remove superfluous COUNTER_MUTATION stage mapping (CASSANDRA-10605)
  * Improve json2sstable error reporting on nonexistent columns (CASSANDRA-10401)
  * (cqlsh) fix COPY using wrong variable name for time_format (CASSANDRA-10633)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java
index c364171126..ae8a3920bf 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java
@@ -453,6 +453,8 @@ public class CQLSSTableWriter implements Closeable
             this.boundNames = p.right;
             if (this.insert.hasConditions())
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Conditional statements are not supported");
+            if (this.insert.isCounter())
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Counter update statements are not supported");
             if (this.boundNames.isEmpty())
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Provided insert statement has no bind variables");
             return this;
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriterTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriterTest.java
index fa5cbb4b73..9c8a2c2de0 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriterTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriterTest.java
@@ -135,6 +135,28 @@ public class CQLSSTableWriterTest
         assertEquals(12, row.getInt("v2"));
     }
 
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testForbidCounterUpdates() throws Exception
+    {
+        String KS = "cql_keyspace";
+        String TABLE = "counter1";
+
+        File tempdir = Files.createTempDir();
+        File dataDir = new File(tempdir.getAbsolutePath() + File.separator + KS + File.separator + TABLE);
+        assert dataDir.mkdirs();
+
+        String schema = "CREATE TABLE cql_keyspace.counter1 (" +
+                        "  my_id int, " +
+                        "  my_counter counter, " +
+                        "  PRIMARY KEY (my_id)" +
+                        ")";
+        String insert = String.format("UPDATE cql_keyspace.counter1 SET my_counter = my_counter - ? WHERE my_id = ?");
+        CQLSSTableWriter.builder().inDirectory(dataDir)
+                        .forTable(schema)
+                        .withPartitioner(StorageService.instance.getPartitioner())
+                        .using(insert).build();
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testSyncWithinPartition() throws Exception
     {