diff --git a/src/reqs.c b/src/reqs.c
index 2e13f48..ce46bf3 100644
--- a/src/reqs.c
+++ b/src/reqs.c
@@ -641,6 +641,11 @@ add_header_to_connection (hashmap_t hashofheaders, char *header, size_t len)
         return hashmap_insert (hashofheaders, header, sep, len);
 }
 
+/* define max number of headers. big enough to handle legitimate cases,
+ * but limited to avoid DoS 
+ */
+#define MAX_HEADERS 10000
+
 /*
  * Read all the headers from the stream
  */
@@ -648,6 +653,7 @@ static int get_all_headers (int fd, hashmap_t hashofheaders)
 {
         char *line = NULL;
         char *header = NULL;
+	int count;
         char *tmp;
         ssize_t linelen;
         ssize_t len = 0;
@@ -656,7 +662,7 @@ static int get_all_headers (int fd, hashmap_t hashofheaders)
         assert (fd >= 0);
         assert (hashofheaders != NULL);
 
-        for (;;) {
+        for (count = 0; count < MAX_HEADERS; count++) {
                 if ((linelen = readline (fd, &line)) <= 0) {
                         safefree (header);
                         safefree (line);
@@ -722,6 +728,12 @@ static int get_all_headers (int fd, hashmap_t hashofheaders)
 
                 safefree (line);
         }
+
+	/* if we get there, this is we reached MAX_HEADERS count.
+	   bail out with error */
+	safefree (header);
+	safefree (line);
+	return -1;
 }
 
 /*