diff --git a/src/targa.imageio/targainput.cpp b/src/targa.imageio/targainput.cpp
index b168508374..96104c6e1b 100644
--- a/src/targa.imageio/targainput.cpp
+++ b/src/targa.imageio/targainput.cpp
@@ -254,6 +254,34 @@ TGAInput::open(const std::string& name, ImageSpec& newspec)
     if (m_tga.type >= TYPE_PALETTED_RLE)
         m_spec.attribute("compression", "rle");
 
+    // The width/height/bpp fields are not cross-checked against how much
+    // pixel data the file actually contains, so a corrupt header can claim
+    // an arbitrarily large image (e.g. thousands of pixels square) backed
+    // by only a few bytes of real data. Reject implausible claims before
+    // committing to a potentially huge allocation in readimg(). Compare
+    // against the *on-disk* pixel size (palette/16-bit storage is smaller
+    // per pixel than the decoded, unpacked ImageSpec) -- and RLE can expand
+    // at most 128x (a 1-byte run-length count can encode up to 128 output
+    // pixels from very little input) -- so give a generous bound based on
+    // how much data remains in the file.
+    {
+        int bytespp = (m_tga.bpp == 15) ? 2 : (m_tga.bpp / 8);
+        uint64_t raw_pixel_bytes = uint64_t(m_tga.width) * uint64_t(m_tga.height)
+                                   * uint64_t(bytespp);
+        uint64_t filesize = uint64_t(ioproxy()->size());
+        uint64_t pos      = uint64_t(iotell());
+        uint64_t avail    = filesize > pos ? filesize - pos : 0;
+        uint64_t max_plausible_bytes = (m_tga.type >= TYPE_PALETTED_RLE)
+                                           ? avail * 128
+                                           : avail;
+        if (raw_pixel_bytes > max_plausible_bytes) {
+            errorfmt(
+                "TGA header claims image size {} bytes, implausible for {} bytes of remaining file data",
+                raw_pixel_bytes, avail);
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
     /*std::cerr << "[tga] " << m_tga.width << "x" << m_tga.height << "@"
               << (int)m_tga.bpp << " (" << m_spec.nchannels
               << ") type " << (int)m_tga.type << "\n";*/
diff --git a/testsuite/targa/ref/out.txt b/testsuite/targa/ref/out.txt
index c303fe1b1a..d7b8d03467 100644
--- a/testsuite/targa/ref/out.txt
+++ b/testsuite/targa/ref/out.txt
@@ -187,8 +187,7 @@ Reading ../oiio-images/targa/round_grill.tga
 Comparing "../oiio-images/targa/round_grill.tga" and "round_grill.tga"
 PASS
 Converting src/crash1.tga to crash1.exr
-iconvert ERROR copying "src/crash1.tga" to "crash1.exr" :
-	Read error: hit end of file in targa reader
+iconvert ERROR: TGA header claims image size 1506428560 bytes, implausible for 1886 bytes of remaining file data
 oiiotool ERROR: read : "src/crash2.tga": Palette image with no palette
 Full command line was:
 > oiiotool --oiioattrib try_all_readers 0 src/crash2.tga -o crash2.exr
@@ -204,9 +203,7 @@ Full command line was:
 oiiotool ERROR: read : "src/crash1708.tga": Too big a color palette (382) for 8 bpp, assume corruption
 Full command line was:
 > oiiotool --oiioattrib try_all_readers 0 src/crash1708.tga -o crash1708.exr
-oiiotool ERROR: read : "src/crash3952.tga": Uncompressed image size 15231.5 MB exceeds the 1024 MB limit.
-Image claimed to be 60927x65535, 4-channel uint8. Possible corrupt input?
-If this is a valid file, raise the OIIO attribute "limits:imagesize_MB".
+oiiotool ERROR: read : "src/crash3952.tga": TGA header claims image size 15971403780 bytes, implausible for 3 bytes of remaining file data
 Full command line was:
 > oiiotool --oiioattrib limits:imagesize_MB 1024 --oiioattrib try_all_readers 0 src/crash3952.tga -o crash3952.exr
 oiiotool ERROR: read : "src/crash-20250423.tga": Corrupt palette index