diff --git a/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.comp b/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.comp
index 61d6cd26a..cbd1332df 100644
--- a/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.comp
+++ b/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.comp
@@ -201,7 +201,9 @@ void main() {
             break;
         case Cmd_BeginClip:
             for (uint k = 0; k < CHUNK; k++) {
-                blend_stack[blend_sp][k] = packsRGB(vec4(rgb[k], clamp(abs(area[k]), 0.0, 1.0)));
+	    	    // We reject any inputs that might overflow in render_ctx.rs.
+                // The following is a sanity check so we don't corrupt memory should there be malformed inputs.
+                blend_stack[min(blend_sp, MAX_BLEND_STACK - 1)][k] = packsRGB(vec4(rgb[k], clamp(abs(area[k]), 0.0, 1.0)));
             }
             blend_sp++;
             cmd_ref.offset += 4;
@@ -209,7 +211,7 @@ void main() {
         case Cmd_EndClip:
             blend_sp--;
             for (uint k = 0; k < CHUNK; k++) {
-                vec4 rgba = unpacksRGB(blend_stack[blend_sp][k]);
+                vec4 rgba = unpacksRGB(blend_stack[min(blend_sp, MAX_BLEND_STACK - 1)][k]);
                 rgb[k] = mix(rgba.rgb, rgb[k], area[k] * rgba.a);
             }
             cmd_ref.offset += 4;
diff --git a/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.spv b/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.spv
index 28963add9..41ac3d010 100644
Binary files a/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.spv and b/piet-gpu/shader/kernel4.spv differ
diff --git a/piet-gpu/src/lib.rs b/piet-gpu/src/lib.rs
index 3e46eae3f..adf20b56f 100644
--- a/piet-gpu/src/lib.rs
+++ b/piet-gpu/src/lib.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ const WIDTH_IN_TILES: usize = 128;
 const HEIGHT_IN_TILES: usize = 96;
 const PTCL_INITIAL_ALLOC: usize = 1024;
 
+const MAX_BLEND_STACK: usize = 256;
+
 const N_CIRCLES: usize = 0;
 
 pub fn render_svg(rc: &mut impl RenderContext, filename: &str, scale: f64) {
diff --git a/piet-gpu/src/render_ctx.rs b/piet-gpu/src/render_ctx.rs
index e80d67d37..91ff39e24 100644
--- a/piet-gpu/src/render_ctx.rs
+++ b/piet-gpu/src/render_ctx.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ use piet::{
     Color, Error, FixedGradient, FontFamily, HitTestPoint, ImageFormat, InterpolationMode,
     IntoBrush, LineMetric, RenderContext, StrokeStyle, Text, TextLayout, TextLayoutBuilder,
 };
+use crate::MAX_BLEND_STACK;
 
 pub struct PietGpuImage;
 
@@ -204,6 +205,9 @@ impl RenderContext for PietGpuRenderContext {
         self.elements.push(Element::BeginClip(Clip {
             bbox: Default::default(),
         }));
+        if self.clip_stack.len() >= MAX_BLEND_STACK {
+            panic!("Maximum clip/blend stack size {} exceeded", MAX_BLEND_STACK);
+        }
         self.clip_stack.push(ClipElement {
             bbox: None,
             begin_ix,