diff --git a/messages/internal_error/root.txt b/messages/internal_error/root.txt
index 081a81e3..ed0f0996 100644
--- a/messages/internal_error/root.txt
+++ b/messages/internal_error/root.txt
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ root:table {
 		I5048E:string{ "Unexpected partition map in a label." }
 		I5049E:string{ "Unexpected blocksize in a label." }
 		I5050E:string{ "Unexpected compression in a label." }
+		I5051E:string{ "Directory nesting in the index is too deep." }
 
 		// Special error codes
 		I9997E:string{ "Child process error (ltfsck/mkltfs): %s (%d)." }
diff --git a/messages/libltfs/root.txt b/messages/libltfs/root.txt
index e1b94ab6..96f0e386 100644
--- a/messages/libltfs/root.txt
+++ b/messages/libltfs/root.txt
@@ -836,6 +836,7 @@ v
 		17292I:string { "Current position is (%llu, %llu), Error position is (%llu, %llu)." }
 	 	17293E:string { "Position mismatch. Cached tape position = %llu. Current tape position = %llu." }
 	 	17294I:string { "Continue signal (%d) received" }
+		17295E:string { "XML parser: directory nesting is too deep (limit %d)." }
 
 		// For Debug 19999I:string { "%s %s %d." }
 
diff --git a/src/libltfs/arch/errormap.c b/src/libltfs/arch/errormap.c
index 8fa6adf5..23d68489 100644
--- a/src/libltfs/arch/errormap.c
+++ b/src/libltfs/arch/errormap.c
@@ -342,6 +342,7 @@ static struct error_map fuse_error_list[] = {
 	{ LTFS_XML_WRONG_PART_MAP,       "I5048E", EINVAL},
 	{ LTFS_XML_WRONG_BLOCKSIZE,      "I5049E", EINVAL},
 	{ LTFS_XML_WRONG_COMP,           "I5050E", EINVAL},
+	{ LTFS_XML_DEEP_NESTING,         "I5051E", EINVAL},
 	{ EDEV_NO_SENSE,                 "D0000E", EIO},
 	{ EDEV_OVERRUN,                  "D0002E", EIO},
 	{ EDEV_UNDERRUN,                 "D0003E", ENODATA},
diff --git a/src/libltfs/ltfs_error.h b/src/libltfs/ltfs_error.h
index c762520e..f495baea 100644
--- a/src/libltfs/ltfs_error.h
+++ b/src/libltfs/ltfs_error.h
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@
 #define LTFS_XML_WRONG_PART_MAP   5048  /* Unexpected partition map in a label */
 #define LTFS_XML_WRONG_BLOCKSIZE  5049  /* Unexpected blocksize in a label */
 #define LTFS_XML_WRONG_COMP       5050  /* Unexpected compression in a label */
+#define LTFS_XML_DEEP_NESTING     5051  /* Directory nesting in the index is too deep */
 
 #define LTFS_ERR_MAX              19999
 
diff --git a/src/libltfs/xml_reader.c b/src/libltfs/xml_reader.c
index c9ddbb4a..10fb9e36 100644
--- a/src/libltfs/xml_reader.c
+++ b/src/libltfs/xml_reader.c
@@ -115,7 +115,9 @@ int xml_next_tag(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, const char *containing_name,
 			return ret;
 		*name = (const char *)xmlTextReaderConstName(reader);
 		*type = xmlTextReaderNodeType(reader);
-	} while (strcmp(*name, containing_name) && (*type) != XML_ELEMENT_NODE);
+		/* libxml2 returns a NULL name for some node types; keep reading
+		 * rather than dereferencing NULL in strcmp below. */
+	} while (! *name || (strcmp(*name, containing_name) && (*type) != XML_ELEMENT_NODE));
 
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/libltfs/xml_reader_libltfs.c b/src/libltfs/xml_reader_libltfs.c
index ae5b9cf2..de82dbf5 100644
--- a/src/libltfs/xml_reader_libltfs.c
+++ b/src/libltfs/xml_reader_libltfs.c
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ static int decode_entry_name(char **new_name, const char *name)
 	/* Always, length must be shorter than original but allocate null termination space */
 	len = strlen(name);
 	tmp_name = malloc((len * sizeof(UChar)) + 1);
+	if (! tmp_name) {
+		ltfsmsg(LTFS_ERR, 10001E, "decode_entry_name: tmp_name");
+		return -LTFS_NO_MEMORY;
+	}
 	buf_decode[2] = '\0';
 
 	while (i < len) {
@@ -575,8 +579,15 @@ static int _xml_parse_ip_criteria(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct ltfs_index *id
 
 			++num_patterns;
 			/* quite inefficient, but the number of patterns should be small. */
-			idx->original_criteria.glob_patterns = realloc(idx->original_criteria.glob_patterns,
-														   (num_patterns + 1) * sizeof(struct ltfs_name));
+			{
+				struct ltfs_name *new_patterns = realloc(idx->original_criteria.glob_patterns,
+														 (num_patterns + 1) * sizeof(struct ltfs_name));
+				if (! new_patterns) {
+					ltfsmsg(LTFS_ERR, 10001E, "_xml_parse_ip_criteria: glob_patterns");
+					return -LTFS_NO_MEMORY;
+				}
+				idx->original_criteria.glob_patterns = new_patterns;
+			}
 
 			if (_xml_parse_nametype(reader,
 									&idx->original_criteria.glob_patterns[num_patterns - 1],
@@ -863,10 +874,10 @@ static int _xml_parse_one_xattr(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *d)
 	if (xattr) {
 		TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&d->xattrlist, xattr, list);
 
-		if (!strcmp(xattr->key.name, "ltfs.vendor.IBM.immutable") && !strcmp(xattr->value, "1") ) {
+		if (xattr->value && !strcmp(xattr->key.name, "ltfs.vendor.IBM.immutable") && !strcmp(xattr->value, "1") ) {
 			d->is_immutable = true;
 		}
-		if (!strcmp(xattr->key.name, "ltfs.vendor.IBM.appendonly") && !strcmp(xattr->value, "1") ) {
+		if (xattr->value && !strcmp(xattr->key.name, "ltfs.vendor.IBM.appendonly") && !strcmp(xattr->value, "1") ) {
 			d->is_appendonly = true;
 		}
 	}
@@ -1192,11 +1203,21 @@ static int _xml_parse_file(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct ltfs_index *idx, stru
  * Parse a dir into the given directory.
  */
 
+/* Guard against C-stack exhaustion while parsing the directory tree:
+ * _xml_parse_dirtree recurses once per nesting level and XML_PARSE_HUGE
+ * removes libxml2's own nesting limit, so a crafted index could otherwise
+ * recurse until the stack overflows. This is a stack-safety bound, not an
+ * LTFS format limit (the format defines no maximum depth); it is set far
+ * above any tree that fits in a conventional PATH_MAX, so it cannot reject
+ * a volume produced from a real filesystem. */
+#define XML_MAX_DIRTREE_DEPTH 1024
+
 static int _xml_parse_dirtree(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *parent,
 							  struct ltfs_index *idx, struct ltfs_volume *vol,
-							  struct name_list *dirname); /* Forward reference */
+							  struct name_list *dirname, int depth); /* Forward reference */
 
-static int _xml_parse_dir_contents(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *dir, struct ltfs_index *idx)
+static int _xml_parse_dir_contents(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *dir,
+								   struct ltfs_index *idx, int depth)
 {
 	struct name_list *list = NULL, *entry_name = NULL;
 	CHECK_ARG_NULL(dir, -LTFS_NULL_ARG);
@@ -1228,7 +1249,7 @@ static int _xml_parse_dir_contents(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *dir,
 				ltfsmsg(LTFS_ERR, 10001E, "_xml_parse_dir_contents: dir");
 				return -LTFS_NO_MEMORY;
 			}
-			ret = _xml_parse_dirtree(reader, dir, idx, dir->vol, entry_name);
+			ret = _xml_parse_dirtree(reader, dir, idx, dir->vol, entry_name, depth + 1);
 			if (ret < 0) {
 				free(entry_name);
 				return ret;
@@ -1285,7 +1306,7 @@ static int _xml_parse_dir_contents(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *dir,
  */
 static int _xml_parse_dirtree(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *parent,
 							  struct ltfs_index *idx, struct ltfs_volume *vol,
-							  struct name_list *dirname)
+							  struct name_list *dirname, int depth)
 {
 	unsigned long long value_int;
 	struct dentry *dir;
@@ -1293,6 +1314,11 @@ static int _xml_parse_dirtree(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *parent,
 	declare_parser_vars("directory");
 	declare_tracking_arrays(9, 1);
 
+	if (depth > XML_MAX_DIRTREE_DEPTH) {
+		ltfsmsg(LTFS_ERR, 17295E, XML_MAX_DIRTREE_DEPTH);
+		return -LTFS_XML_DEEP_NESTING;
+	}
+
 	if (! parent && idx->root) {
 		dir = idx->root;
 		dir->vol = vol;
@@ -1407,7 +1433,7 @@ static int _xml_parse_dirtree(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct dentry *parent,
 			check_required_tag(6);
 			check_empty();
 			if (empty == 0) {
-				ret = _xml_parse_dir_contents(reader, dir, idx);
+				ret = _xml_parse_dir_contents(reader, dir, idx, depth);
 				if (ret < 0)
 					return ret;
 			}
@@ -1598,7 +1624,7 @@ static int _xml_parse_schema(xmlTextReaderPtr reader, struct ltfs_index *idx, st
 		} else if (! strcmp(name, "directory")) {
 			check_required_tag(6);
 			assert_not_empty();
-			ret = _xml_parse_dirtree(reader, NULL, idx, vol, NULL);
+			ret = _xml_parse_dirtree(reader, NULL, idx, vol, NULL, 0);
 			if (ret < 0)
 				return ret;