diff --git a/config/config.sample.php b/config/config.sample.php
index 0211d08676a..3eadbc61290 100644
--- a/config/config.sample.php
+++ b/config/config.sample.php
@@ -1043,6 +1043,16 @@ $CONFIG = [
  */
 'preview_max_filesize_image' => 50,
 
+/**
+ * max memory for generating image previews with imagegd (default behavior)
+ * Reads the image dimensions from the header and assumes 32 bits per pixel.
+ * If creating the image would allocate more memory, preview generation will
+ * be disabled and the default mimetype icon is shown. Set to -1 for no limit.
+ *
+ * Defaults to ``128`` megabytes
+ */
+'preview_max_memory' => 128,
+
 /**
  * custom path for LibreOffice/OpenOffice binary
  *
diff --git a/lib/private/legacy/OC_Image.php b/lib/private/legacy/OC_Image.php
index 333a9d919ef..3988eb8eaa5 100644
--- a/lib/private/legacy/OC_Image.php
+++ b/lib/private/legacy/OC_Image.php
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ use OCP\IImage;
  * Class for basic image manipulation
  */
 class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
+
+	// Default memory limit for images to load (128 MBytes).
+	protected const DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT = 128;
+
 	/** @var false|resource|\GdImage */
 	protected $resource = false; // tmp resource.
 	/** @var int */
@@ -563,6 +567,71 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Check if allocating an image with the given size is allowed.
+	 *
+	 * @param int $width The image width.
+	 * @param int $height The image height.
+	 * @return bool true if allocating is allowed, false otherwise
+	 */
+	private function checkImageMemory($width, $height) {
+		$memory_limit = $this->config->getSystemValueInt('preview_max_memory', self::DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT);
+		if ($memory_limit < 0) {
+			// Not limited.
+			return true;
+		}
+
+		// Assume 32 bits per pixel.
+		if ($width * $height * 4 > $memory_limit * 1024 * 1024) {
+			$this->logger->debug('Image size of ' . $width . 'x' . $height . ' would exceed allowed memory limit of ' . $memory_limit);
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Check if loading an image file from the given path is allowed.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $path The path to a local file.
+	 * @return bool true if allocating is allowed, false otherwise
+	 */
+	private function checkImageSize($path) {
+		$size = getimagesize($path);
+		if (!$size) {
+			return true;
+		}
+
+		$width = $size[0];
+		$height = $size[1];
+		if (!$this->checkImageMemory($width, $height)) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Check if loading an image from the given data is allowed.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $data A string of image data as read from a file.
+	 * @return bool true if allocating is allowed, false otherwise
+	 */
+	private function checkImageDataSize($data) {
+		$size = getimagesizefromstring($data);
+		if (!$size) {
+			return true;
+		}
+
+		$width = $size[0];
+		$height = $size[1];
+		if (!$this->checkImageMemory($width, $height)) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		return true;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Loads an image from a local file.
 	 *
@@ -578,6 +647,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 		switch ($iType) {
 			case IMAGETYPE_GIF:
 				if (imagetypes() & IMG_GIF) {
+					if (!$this->checkImageSize($imagePath)) {
+						return false;
+					}
 					$this->resource = imagecreatefromgif($imagePath);
 					if ($this->resource) {
 						// Preserve transparency
@@ -592,6 +664,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 				break;
 			case IMAGETYPE_JPEG:
 				if (imagetypes() & IMG_JPG) {
+					if (!$this->checkImageSize($imagePath)) {
+						return false;
+					}
 					if (getimagesize($imagePath) !== false) {
 						$this->resource = @imagecreatefromjpeg($imagePath);
 					} else {
@@ -603,6 +678,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 				break;
 			case IMAGETYPE_PNG:
 				if (imagetypes() & IMG_PNG) {
+					if (!$this->checkImageSize($imagePath)) {
+						return false;
+					}
 					$this->resource = @imagecreatefrompng($imagePath);
 					if ($this->resource) {
 						// Preserve transparency
@@ -617,6 +695,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 				break;
 			case IMAGETYPE_XBM:
 				if (imagetypes() & IMG_XPM) {
+					if (!$this->checkImageSize($imagePath)) {
+						return false;
+					}
 					$this->resource = @imagecreatefromxbm($imagePath);
 				} else {
 					$this->logger->debug('OC_Image->loadFromFile, XBM/XPM images not supported: ' . $imagePath, ['app' => 'core']);
@@ -624,6 +705,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 				break;
 			case IMAGETYPE_WBMP:
 				if (imagetypes() & IMG_WBMP) {
+					if (!$this->checkImageSize($imagePath)) {
+						return false;
+					}
 					$this->resource = @imagecreatefromwbmp($imagePath);
 				} else {
 					$this->logger->debug('OC_Image->loadFromFile, WBMP images not supported: ' . $imagePath, ['app' => 'core']);
@@ -634,6 +718,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 				break;
 			case IMAGETYPE_WEBP:
 				if (imagetypes() & IMG_WEBP) {
+					if (!$this->checkImageSize($imagePath)) {
+						return false;
+					}
 					$this->resource = @imagecreatefromwebp($imagePath);
 				} else {
 					$this->logger->debug('OC_Image->loadFromFile, webp images not supported: ' . $imagePath, ['app' => 'core']);
@@ -666,7 +753,11 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 			default:
 
 				// this is mostly file created from encrypted file
-				$this->resource = imagecreatefromstring(file_get_contents($imagePath));
+				$data = file_get_contents($imagePath);
+				if (!$this->checkImageDataSize($data)) {
+					return false;
+				}
+				$this->resource = imagecreatefromstring($data);
 				$iType = IMAGETYPE_PNG;
 				$this->logger->debug('OC_Image->loadFromFile, Default', ['app' => 'core']);
 				break;
@@ -689,6 +780,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 		if (!is_string($str)) {
 			return false;
 		}
+		if (!$this->checkImageDataSize($str)) {
+			return false;
+		}
 		$this->resource = @imagecreatefromstring($str);
 		if ($this->fileInfo) {
 			$this->mimeType = $this->fileInfo->buffer($str);
@@ -717,6 +811,9 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 		}
 		$data = base64_decode($str);
 		if ($data) { // try to load from string data
+			if (!$this->checkImageDataSize($data)) {
+				return false;
+			}
 			$this->resource = @imagecreatefromstring($data);
 			if ($this->fileInfo) {
 				$this->mimeType = $this->fileInfo->buffer($data);
@@ -793,6 +890,10 @@ class OC_Image implements \OCP\IImage {
 				}
 			}
 		}
+		if (!$this->checkImageMemory($meta['width'], $meta['height'])) {
+			fclose($fh);
+			return false;
+		}
 		// create gd image
 		$im = imagecreatetruecolor($meta['width'], $meta['height']);
 		if ($im == false) {
diff --git a/tests/data/testimage-badheader.jpg b/tests/data/testimage-badheader.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b876804eb4e
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/data/testimage-badheader.jpg differ
diff --git a/tests/lib/ImageTest.php b/tests/lib/ImageTest.php
index 5b83c4ac57f..e6818c7e243 100644
--- a/tests/lib/ImageTest.php
+++ b/tests/lib/ImageTest.php
@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@ class ImageTest extends \Test\TestCase {
 			->method('getAppValue')
 			->with('preview', 'jpeg_quality', 90)
 			->willReturn(null);
+		$config->expects($this->once())
+			->method('getSystemValueInt')
+			->with('preview_max_memory', 128)
+			->willReturn(128);
 		$img = new \OC_Image(null, null, $config);
 		$img->loadFromFile(OC::$SERVERROOT.'/tests/data/testimage.jpg');
 		$raw = imagecreatefromstring(file_get_contents(OC::$SERVERROOT.'/tests/data/testimage.jpg'));
@@ -363,4 +367,17 @@ class ImageTest extends \Test\TestCase {
 		$img->save($tempFile, $mimeType);
 		$this->assertEquals($mimeType, image_type_to_mime_type(exif_imagetype($tempFile)));
 	}
+
+	public function testMemoryLimitFromFile() {
+		$img = new \OC_Image();
+		$img->loadFromFile(OC::$SERVERROOT.'/tests/data/testimage-badheader.jpg');
+		$this->assertFalse($img->valid());
+	}
+
+	public function testMemoryLimitFromData() {
+		$data = file_get_contents(OC::$SERVERROOT.'/tests/data/testimage-badheader.jpg');
+		$img = new \OC_Image();
+		$img->loadFromData($data);
+		$this->assertFalse($img->valid());
+	}
 }