diff --git a/headers/private/app/LinkSender.h b/headers/private/app/LinkSender.h
index 182a4a5ad1..50b1592052 100644
--- a/headers/private/app/LinkSender.h
+++ b/headers/private/app/LinkSender.h
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class LinkSender {
 		status_t Flush(bigtime_t timeout = B_INFINITE_TIMEOUT, bool needsReply = false);
 
 		status_t Attach(const void *data, size_t size);
-		status_t AttachString(const char *string, int32 length = -1);
+		status_t AttachString(const char *string, int32 maxLength = -1);
 		template <class Type> status_t Attach(const Type& data)
 		{
 			return Attach(&data, sizeof(Type));
diff --git a/src/kits/app/LinkSender.cpp b/src/kits/app/LinkSender.cpp
index 57f25cb804..1b65d8349f 100644
--- a/src/kits/app/LinkSender.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/app/LinkSender.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #	define STRACE(x) ;
 #endif
 
+static const size_t kMaxStringSize = 4096;
 static const size_t kWatermark = kInitialBufferSize - 24;
 	// if a message is started after this mark, the buffer is flushed automatically
 
@@ -160,8 +161,15 @@ LinkSender::AttachString(const char *string, int32 length)
 	if (string == NULL)
 		string = "";
 
-	if (length == -1)
-		length = strlen(string);
+	size_t maxLength = strlen(string);
+	if (length == -1) {
+		length = (int32)maxLength;
+
+		// we should report an error here
+		if (maxLength > kMaxStringSize)
+			length = 0;
+	} else if (length > (int32)maxLength)
+		length = maxLength;
 
 	status_t status = Attach<int32>(length);
 	if (status < B_OK)