diff --git a/src/util-io.c b/src/util-io.c
index f3f7af8..acc35f0 100644
--- a/src/util-io.c
+++ b/src/util-io.c
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ xsend_with_fd(int fd, const void *buf, size_t len, int *fds)
 	if (nfds == 0)
 		return xsend(fd, buf, len);
 
+	const size_t MAX_FDS = 32;
+	if (nfds > MAX_FDS) {
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	char control[CMSG_SPACE(nfds * sizeof(int))];
 	struct cmsghdr *header = (struct cmsghdr *)control;