diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPool.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPool.java
index 0a9ab79afd..8e8fddf709 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPool.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPool.java
@@ -230,8 +230,15 @@ public ConstantPool copy() {
      * @throws IOException if problem in writeShort or dump
      */
     public void dump(final DataOutputStream file) throws IOException {
-        file.writeShort(constantPool.length);
-        for (int i = 1; i < constantPool.length; i++) {
+        /*
+         * Constants over the size of the constant pool shall not be written out.
+         * This is a redundant measure as the ConstantPoolGen should have already
+         * reported an error back in the situation.
+        */
+        final int size = Math.min(constantPool.length, Const.MAX_CP_ENTRIES);
+
+        file.writeShort(size);
+        for (int i = 1; i < size; i++) {
             if (constantPool[i] != null) {
                 constantPool[i].dump(file);
             }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/generic/ConstantPoolGen.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/generic/ConstantPoolGen.java
index 3d91b41614..d55f321885 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/generic/ConstantPoolGen.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/bcel/generic/ConstantPoolGen.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ public ConstantPoolGen() {
     public ConstantPoolGen(final Constant[] cs) {
         final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE);
 
-        size = Math.max(DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE, cs.length + 64);
+        size = Math.min(Math.max(DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE, cs.length + 64), Const.MAX_CP_ENTRIES + 1);
         constants = new Constant[size];
 
         System.arraycopy(cs, 0, constants, 0, cs.length);
@@ -561,9 +561,18 @@ public int addUtf8(final String n) {
      * Resize internal array of constants.
      */
     protected void adjustSize() {
+        // 3 extra spaces are needed as some entries may take 3 slots
+        if (index + 3 >= Const.MAX_CP_ENTRIES + 1) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("The number of constants " + (index + 3)
+                    + " is over the size of the constant pool: "
+                    + Const.MAX_CP_ENTRIES);
+        }
+
         if (index + 3 >= size) {
             final Constant[] cs = constants;
             size *= 2;
+            // the constant array shall not exceed the size of the constant pool
+            size = Math.min(size, Const.MAX_CP_ENTRIES + 1);
             constants = new Constant[size];
             System.arraycopy(cs, 0, constants, 0, index);
         }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPoolTestCase.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPoolTestCase.java
index fae5bcf78c..5e47998328 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPoolTestCase.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/bcel/classfile/ConstantPoolTestCase.java
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@
 package org.apache.bcel.classfile;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 
 import org.apache.bcel.AbstractTestCase;
+import org.apache.bcel.Const;
 import org.apache.bcel.generic.ConstantPoolGen;
 import org.apache.bcel.generic.InstructionHandle;
 import org.apache.bcel.generic.InstructionList;
@@ -52,4 +54,17 @@ public void testConstantToString() throws ClassNotFoundException {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testTooManyConstants() throws ClassNotFoundException {
+        final JavaClass clazz = getTestClass(PACKAGE_BASE_NAME + ".data.SimpleClassWithDefaultConstructor");
+        final ConstantPoolGen cp = new ConstantPoolGen(clazz.getConstantPool());
+
+        int i = cp.getSize();
+        while (i < Const.MAX_CP_ENTRIES - 1) {
+            cp.addLong(i);
+            i = cp.getSize(); // i += 2
+        }
+        assertThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> cp.addLong(0));
+    }
 }