diff --git a/src/shared/varlink.c b/src/shared/varlink.c
index 1e1e4d48f9..80e239bf78 100644
--- a/src/shared/varlink.c
+++ b/src/shared/varlink.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #define VARLINK_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_USEC (45U*USEC_PER_SEC)
 #define VARLINK_BUFFER_MAX (16U*1024U*1024U)
 #define VARLINK_READ_SIZE (64U*1024U)
+#define VARLINK_COLLECT_MAX 1024U
 
 typedef enum VarlinkState {
         /* Client side states */
@@ -2348,6 +2349,9 @@ static int collect_callback(
                 return 0;
         }
 
+        if (json_variant_elements(context->parameters) >= VARLINK_COLLECT_MAX)
+                return varlink_log_errno(v, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(E2BIG), "Number of reply messages grew too large (%zu) while collecting.", json_variant_elements(context->parameters));
+
         r = json_variant_append_array(&context->parameters, parameters);
         if (r < 0)
                 return varlink_log_errno(v, r, "Failed to append JSON object to array: %m");