diff --git a/internal/archive/extract_test.go b/internal/archive/extract_test.go
index 0d62066f9..7068e05b0 100644
--- a/internal/archive/extract_test.go
+++ b/internal/archive/extract_test.go
@@ -215,6 +215,19 @@ func TestResolver_extract_dataEdgeCases(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	})
 
+	t.Run("an entry name with too many path components is skipped and reported", func(t *testing.T) {
+		atCap := strings.Repeat("a/", maxEntryNameDepth-1) + "f"
+		data := zipBytes(t, map[string]string{
+			atCap: "at the cap",
+			strings.Repeat("b/", maxEntryNameDepth) + "f": "over the cap",
+		})
+		r, _ := extractBytes(t, data, "test.zip", nil)
+		names := storedNames(t, r)
+		assert.Contains(t, names, atCap)
+		assert.Len(t, names, maxEntryNameDepth, "only the entry at the cap and its implied directories")
+		assert.ErrorContains(t, r.Truncated, "path components")
+	})
+
 	t.Run("an over-long entry name is skipped", func(t *testing.T) {
 		data := zipBytes(t, map[string]string{
 			strings.Repeat("a/", maxEntryNameBytes) + "f": "deep",
@@ -526,12 +539,12 @@ func TestExtract_entryCountBombIsBoundedByTheMemoryLimit(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestExtract_deepPathBombIsBoundedByTheMemoryLimit(t *testing.T) {
-	// 100 entries whose 4 KiB names each imply 500 distinct directories would be 50,000 nodes; the
-	// implied directories are charged as nodes, so the memory limit bounds them too
+	// 100 entries whose names each imply 250 distinct directories would be 25,000 nodes; the implied
+	// directories are charged as nodes, so the memory limit bounds them too
 	files := map[string]string{}
 	for i := range 100 {
 		var b strings.Builder
-		for j := range 500 {
+		for j := range maxEntryNameDepth - 6 {
 			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "%03d-%03d/", i, j)
 		}
 		b.WriteString("f")
diff --git a/internal/archive/resolver.go b/internal/archive/resolver.go
index 7fc4051e6..5f0cd9286 100644
--- a/internal/archive/resolver.go
+++ b/internal/archive/resolver.go
@@ -109,13 +109,16 @@ func (r *Resolver) add(hdr tar.Header, content io.Reader) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	// directories the path implies that do not exist yet are nodes this entry pays for
+	// directories the path implies that do not exist yet are nodes this entry pays for. Walking from the
+	// deepest parent up stops at the first that exists, since its ancestors exist too
 	var newDirs []string
-	for i := 1; i < len(entryPath); i++ {
-		if entryPath[i] == '/' && !r.tree.HasPath(stereoscopeFile.Path(entryPath[:i])) {
-			newDirs = append(newDirs, entryPath[:i])
+	for i := strings.LastIndexByte(entryPath, '/'); i > 0; i = strings.LastIndexByte(entryPath[:i], '/') {
+		if r.tree.HasPath(stereoscopeFile.Path(entryPath[:i])) {
+			break
 		}
+		newDirs = append(newDirs, entryPath[:i])
 	}
+	slices.Reverse(newDirs)
 	if !r.chargeIndex(approxIndexBytes(hdr) + int64(len(newDirs))*approxIndexBytesPerEntry) {
 		return ErrDiskLimitReached
 	}
@@ -459,6 +462,10 @@ func (entryReader) Close() error { return nil }
 // so a longer name is a cheap way to inflate the index and no filesystem could hold it anyway.
 const maxEntryNameBytes = 4096
 
+// maxEntryNameDepth is the most path components an entry name may have. Adding an entry costs work per
+// component, and no real archive nests anywhere near this deep.
+const maxEntryNameDepth = 256
+
 // entryHeader builds the header stored for one archive entry, or reports false for an entry not worth
 // carrying: device nodes, fifos and sockets, which no cataloger reads, and names that cannot be a path
 // inside the archive. A name refused as unsafe marks the resolver truncated.
@@ -511,6 +518,9 @@ func entryName(name string) (string, error) {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("entry name %q contains a control character", name)
 	}
 	cleaned := strings.TrimPrefix(path.Clean("/"+name), "/")
+	if depth := strings.Count(cleaned, "/") + 1; depth > maxEntryNameDepth {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("entry name of %d path components exceeds the %d component cap", depth, maxEntryNameDepth)
+	}
 	if strings.Contains(cleaned, file.ArchivePathSeparator) {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("entry name %q contains the archive path separator %q", name, file.ArchivePathSeparator)
 	}