diff --git a/internal/archive/extract.go b/internal/archive/extract.go
index 2939a9d29..fe11a3a55 100644
--- a/internal/archive/extract.go
+++ b/internal/archive/extract.go
@@ -152,6 +152,10 @@ func (r *Resolver) extract(ctx context.Context, format archives.Extractor, conte
 		r.truncate("extraction stopped at the configured memory or disk limit")
 		return nil
 	}
+	if errors.Is(err, errBudgetSpent) {
+		r.truncate("extraction stopped: the archive and those nested in it decompressed to far more than its size (possible decompression bomb)")
+		return nil
+	}
 	return err
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/archive/limits.go b/internal/archive/limits.go
index 87ab321fe..dd807d07f 100644
--- a/internal/archive/limits.go
+++ b/internal/archive/limits.go
@@ -5,6 +5,35 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 )
 
+// Budget bounds the bytes decompressed under one top-level archive, summed over every archive nested in
+// it. Unlike Limits it never refills as archives are released: it bounds work, not what is held at once,
+// which is what stops a recursive bomb (42.zip) whose every level fits the limits on its own. A nil
+// *Budget admits everything.
+//
+// ponytail: no lock, since the archive walk is sequential; guard it if the walk ever runs concurrently.
+type Budget struct {
+	remaining int64
+}
+
+func NewBudget(bytes int64) *Budget {
+	return &Budget{remaining: bytes}
+}
+
+// take spends n bytes, or reports false (and spends the rest) when fewer than n remain.
+func (b *Budget) take(n int64) bool {
+	if b == nil {
+		return true
+	}
+	if n > b.remaining {
+		b.remaining = 0
+		return false
+	}
+	b.remaining -= n
+	return true
+}
+
+var errBudgetSpent = errors.New("archive tree decompression budget spent")
+
 // ErrDiskLimitReached reports that placing an archive's content would exceed the disk limit.
 var ErrDiskLimitReached = errors.New("archive content would exceed the disk limit")
 
diff --git a/internal/archive/resolver.go b/internal/archive/resolver.go
index 38d69ed2c..44c6d3f01 100644
--- a/internal/archive/resolver.go
+++ b/internal/archive/resolver.go
@@ -35,13 +35,14 @@ type Resolver struct {
 	Digests []file.Digest
 
 	// Truncated reports that the resolver covers only part of the archive, and TruncatedReason says why:
-	// the disk limit stopped extraction early, or an entry was too large to store.
+	// the disk limit or the decompression budget stopped extraction early, or an entry was too large.
 	Truncated       bool
 	TruncatedReason string
 
 	fileSystemID string
 	archivePath  string
 	charge       *charge
+	budget       *Budget
 
 	// content is held in memory while the memory limit admits it and in one spill file once it does
 	// not. The file is created on first use, so an archive that stays in memory never touches the
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ func newResolver(ctx context.Context, fileSystemID, archivePath string, charge *
 		fileSystemID: fileSystemID,
 		archivePath:  archivePath,
 		charge:       charge,
+		budget:       budgetFromContext(ctx),
 		tempDir:      tmpdir.FromContext(ctx),
 		byPath:       map[string]*node{"/": {path: "/", isDir: true}},
 	}
diff --git a/internal/archive/storage.go b/internal/archive/storage.go
index 9a3c4ccae..26ea65650 100644
--- a/internal/archive/storage.go
+++ b/internal/archive/storage.go
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ func (r *Resolver) put(b *blob, content io.Reader) error {
 	for {
 		n, readErr := content.Read(r.chunk)
 		if n > 0 {
+			if !r.budget.take(int64(n)) {
+				return errBudgetSpent
+			}
 			if err := r.write(b, r.chunk[:n]); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/internal/archive/traversal.go b/internal/archive/traversal.go
index 595f61f43..6690047b2 100644
--- a/internal/archive/traversal.go
+++ b/internal/archive/traversal.go
@@ -52,6 +52,19 @@ func TraversalFromContext(ctx context.Context) *Traversal {
 	return t
 }
 
+type budgetCtxKey struct{}
+
+// WithBudget sets the decompression budget that Extract spends from, for this archive and every archive
+// extracted beneath it.
+func WithBudget(ctx context.Context, b *Budget) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, budgetCtxKey{}, b)
+}
+
+func budgetFromContext(ctx context.Context) *Budget {
+	b, _ := ctx.Value(budgetCtxKey{}).(*Budget)
+	return b
+}
+
 type nestedCatalogingCtxKey struct{}
 
 // WithNestedCataloging marks the context of a scan whose archive cataloger task will extract every
diff --git a/internal/task/archive_tasks.go b/internal/task/archive_tasks.go
index 40e28f2ee..bbe552acd 100644
--- a/internal/task/archive_tasks.go
+++ b/internal/task/archive_tasks.go
@@ -184,6 +184,11 @@ func (c *archiveCataloger) processArchive(ctx context.Context, parentResolver fi
 
 	started := time.Now()
 
+	if depth == 0 {
+		// one budget for this archive and everything nested in it, however deep
+		ctx = archive.WithBudget(ctx, archive.NewBudget(archiveTreeBudget(parentResolver, location)))
+	}
+
 	// extracted files keep the filesystem ID of where the archive was found; the nesting chain is
 	// carried separately as the archive path. The chain names real paths, not the link the archive was
 	// reached by, so it is stable and joins to the archive's package location by prefix.
@@ -234,6 +239,22 @@ func (c *archiveCataloger) processArchive(ctx context.Context, parentResolver fi
 	return c.catalog(ctx, extracted, depth+1, builder)
 }
 
+// a top-level archive and everything nested in it may decompress to archiveTreeRatio times its size, or
+// archiveTreeFloorBytes if that is more. Real trees (a war of jars, a layer of tarballs) expand a few
+// times over; a recursive bomb expands by orders of magnitude at every level.
+var (
+	archiveTreeRatio      int64 = 100
+	archiveTreeFloorBytes int64 = 1 << 30
+)
+
+func archiveTreeBudget(resolver file.Resolver, location file.Location) int64 {
+	var size int64
+	if m, err := resolver.FileMetadataByLocation(location); err == nil && m.FileInfo != nil {
+		size = m.Size()
+	}
+	return max(archiveTreeRatio*size, archiveTreeFloorBytes)
+}
+
 func (c *archiveCataloger) isAncestor(digests []file.Digest) bool {
 	for _, d := range digests {
 		if slices.Contains(c.ancestors, d) {
diff --git a/internal/task/archive_tasks_test.go b/internal/task/archive_tasks_test.go
index e5ae4113c..4d5488984 100644
--- a/internal/task/archive_tasks_test.go
+++ b/internal/task/archive_tasks_test.go
@@ -369,6 +369,33 @@ func Test_archiveCataloger_stopsWhenTheContextIsCancelled(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Zero(t, ran)
 }
 
+func Test_archiveCataloger_decompressionBudgetIsSharedByATreeAndFreshPerTopLevelArchive(t *testing.T) {
+	// a recursive bomb fits the limits one level at a time, so what bounds it is the total decompressed
+	// under one top-level archive
+	origRatio, origFloor := archiveTreeRatio, archiveTreeFloorBytes
+	archiveTreeRatio, archiveTreeFloorBytes = 0, 100_000
+	t.Cleanup(func() { archiveTreeRatio, archiveTreeFloorBytes = origRatio, origFloor })
+
+	zeros := make([]byte, 60_000)
+	nested := makeZip(t, map[string][]byte{"zeros.bin": zeros})
+	rootDir := t.TempDir()
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(rootDir, "bomb.zip"), makeZip(t, map[string][]byte{"a.zip": nested, "b.zip": nested}), 0o600))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(rootDir, "sibling.zip"), makeZip(t, map[string][]byte{"zeros.bin": zeros}), 0o600))
+
+	var seen []string
+	fileCounts := map[string]int{}
+	tsk := newTestTask(t, cataloging.DefaultArchiveSearchConfig().WithMaxDepth(2), capturingTask(t, &seen, &fileCounts))
+	s := newTestSBOM()
+	require.NoError(t, tsk.Execute(context.Background(), dirTestResolver{dir: rootDir}, sbomsync.NewBuilder(s)))
+
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, fileCounts["/bomb.zip:a.zip"], "the first nested archive fits the tree's budget")
+	assert.Equal(t, 0, fileCounts["/bomb.zip:b.zip"], "the second does not: the budget is shared, not per archive")
+	reasons := s.Artifacts.Unknowns[file.Coordinates{RealPath: "b.zip", ArchivePath: "/bomb.zip"}]
+	require.Len(t, reasons, 1)
+	assert.Contains(t, reasons[0], "possible decompression bomb")
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, fileCounts["/sibling.zip"], "another top-level archive starts with a fresh budget")
+}
+
 func Test_NewArchiveCatalogerTask_dropsItselfFromSubPipeline(t *testing.T) {
 	// a copy of itself in the sub-pipeline would process every nesting level twice
 	cfg := cataloging.DefaultArchiveSearchConfig().WithMaxDepth(2)
@@ -949,6 +976,11 @@ func (d dirTestResolver) FileContentsByLocation(loc file.Location) (io.ReadClose
 	return os.Open(filepath.Join(d.dir, filepath.FromSlash(loc.RealPath)))
 }
 
+func (d dirTestResolver) FileMetadataByLocation(loc file.Location) (file.Metadata, error) {
+	info, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(d.dir, filepath.FromSlash(loc.RealPath)))
+	return file.Metadata{FileInfo: info}, err
+}
+
 // makeZip builds a zip in sorted entry-name order: limits are enforced as the walk proceeds, so entry
 // order decides which entries land before a truncation.
 func makeZip(t *testing.T, entries map[string][]byte) []byte {
@@ -1034,6 +1066,11 @@ func (r twoLayerResolver) FileContentsByLocation(loc file.Location) (io.ReadClos
 	return io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(body)), nil
 }
 
+// FileMetadataByLocation reports no metadata, so the archive falls back to the minimum budget.
+func (r twoLayerResolver) FileMetadataByLocation(file.Location) (file.Metadata, error) {
+	return file.Metadata{}, os.ErrNotExist
+}
+
 // incompressible returns n bytes deflate cannot shrink, so an archive built from them has a
 // predictable size to set a limit against.
 func incompressible(n int) []byte {
@@ -1091,6 +1128,10 @@ func (a allFilesResolver) FileContentsByLocation(loc file.Location) (io.ReadClos
 	return os.Open(filepath.Join(a.dir, filepath.FromSlash(loc.RealPath)))
 }
 
+func (a allFilesResolver) FileMetadataByLocation(loc file.Location) (file.Metadata, error) {
+	return dirTestResolver{dir: a.dir}.FileMetadataByLocation(loc)
+}
+
 func (p *recordingPublisher) Publish(e partybus.Event) {
 	p.events = append(p.events, e)
 }