diff --git a/sparse-index.c b/sparse-index.c
index 1fdb07a9e6..3578feb283 100644
--- a/sparse-index.c
+++ b/sparse-index.c
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ void expand_index(struct index_state *istate, struct pattern_list *pl)
 		strbuf_setlen(&base, 0);
 		strbuf_add(&base, ce->name, strlen(ce->name));
 
-		read_tree_at(istate->repo, tree, &base, &ps,
+		read_tree_at(istate->repo, tree, &base, 0, &ps,
 			     add_path_to_index, &ctx);
 
 		/* free directory entries. full entries are re-used */
diff --git a/t/t6700-tree-depth.sh b/t/t6700-tree-depth.sh
index d4d17db2ae..93ec41df03 100755
--- a/t/t6700-tree-depth.sh
+++ b/t/t6700-tree-depth.sh
@@ -63,4 +63,13 @@ test_expect_success 'default limit for git-archive fails gracefully' '
 	test_must_fail git archive big >/dev/null
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'limit recursion of ls-tree -r' '
+	git $small_ok ls-tree -r small &&
+	test_must_fail git $small_no ls-tree -r small
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'default limit for ls-tree fails gracefully' '
+	test_must_fail git ls-tree -r big >/dev/null
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index c745462f96..990f9c9854 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@
 #include "alloc.h"
 #include "tree-walk.h"
 #include "repository.h"
+#include "environment.h"
 
 const char *tree_type = "tree";
 
 int read_tree_at(struct repository *r,
 		 struct tree *tree, struct strbuf *base,
+		 int depth,
 		 const struct pathspec *pathspec,
 		 read_tree_fn_t fn, void *context)
 {
@@ -24,6 +26,9 @@ int read_tree_at(struct repository *r,
 	int len, oldlen = base->len;
 	enum interesting retval = entry_not_interesting;
 
+	if (depth > max_allowed_tree_depth)
+		return error("exceeded maximum allowed tree depth");
+
 	if (parse_tree(tree))
 		return -1;
 
@@ -74,7 +79,7 @@ int read_tree_at(struct repository *r,
 		strbuf_add(base, entry.path, len);
 		strbuf_addch(base, '/');
 		retval = read_tree_at(r, lookup_tree(r, &oid),
-				      base, pathspec,
+				      base, depth + 1, pathspec,
 				      fn, context);
 		strbuf_setlen(base, oldlen);
 		if (retval)
@@ -89,7 +94,7 @@ int read_tree(struct repository *r,
 	      read_tree_fn_t fn, void *context)
 {
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
-	int ret = read_tree_at(r, tree, &sb, pathspec, fn, context);
+	int ret = read_tree_at(r, tree, &sb, 0, pathspec, fn, context);
 	strbuf_release(&sb);
 	return ret;
 }
diff --git a/tree.h b/tree.h
index 1b5ecbda6b..cc6ddf51b3 100644
--- a/tree.h
+++ b/tree.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ typedef int (*read_tree_fn_t)(const struct object_id *, struct strbuf *, const c
 
 int read_tree_at(struct repository *r,
 		 struct tree *tree, struct strbuf *base,
+		 int depth,
 		 const struct pathspec *pathspec,
 		 read_tree_fn_t fn, void *context);
 
diff --git a/wt-status.c b/wt-status.c
index 5b1378965c..996f8635c3 100644
--- a/wt-status.c
+++ b/wt-status.c
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ static void wt_status_collect_changes_initial(struct wt_status *s)
 			ps.max_depth = -1;
 
 			strbuf_add(&base, ce->name, ce->ce_namelen);
-			read_tree_at(istate->repo, tree, &base, &ps,
+			read_tree_at(istate->repo, tree, &base, 0, &ps,
 				     add_file_to_list, s);
 			continue;
 		}