diff --git a/bot_bottle/git_http_backend.py b/bot_bottle/git_http_backend.py
index 0d5ee73..5610222 100644
--- a/bot_bottle/git_http_backend.py
+++ b/bot_bottle/git_http_backend.py
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ from urllib.parse import urlsplit
 
 DEFAULT_PORT = 9420
 
+# Body-size cap matching supervise_server.py's 1 MiB limit.
+MAX_BODY_BYTES = 1 * 1024 * 1024
+
 
 class GitHttpHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
     server_version = "bot-bottle-git-http/1"
@@ -76,7 +79,18 @@ class GitHttpHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
             value = self.headers.get(header)
             if value:
                 env[variable] = value
-        length = int(self.headers.get("content-length", "0") or "0")
+        raw_length = self.headers.get("content-length", "0") or "0"
+        try:
+            length = int(raw_length)
+        except ValueError:
+            self.send_error(400, "Bad Content-Length")
+            return
+        if length < 0:
+            self.send_error(400, "Negative Content-Length")
+            return
+        if length > MAX_BODY_BYTES:
+            self.send_error(413, "Request body too large")
+            return
         body = self.rfile.read(length) if length else b""
         proc = subprocess.run(
             ["git", "http-backend"],
diff --git a/docs/prds/0041-git-http-request-bounds.md b/docs/prds/0041-git-http-request-bounds.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16c5d62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/prds/0041-git-http-request-bounds.md
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# PRD 0041: Git HTTP Request Bounds
+
+- **Status:** Active
+- **Author:** didericis-codex
+- **Created:** 2026-06-02
+- **Issue:** #138
+
+## Summary
+
+Add Content-Length validation and a body-size cap to `git_http_backend.py` so malformed or oversized smart-HTTP requests fail cleanly rather than crashing the handler or exhausting memory.
+
+## Problem
+
+`bot_bottle/git_http_backend.py` calls `int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))` without catching `ValueError`. A request with a non-numeric Content-Length raises an unhandled exception in the request handler.
+
+The handler reads the full declared length into memory before passing the body to `git http-backend` with no upper bound. A local or compromised client can force arbitrarily high memory use. For comparison, `supervise_server.py` caps request bodies at 1 MiB.
+
+## Goals / Success Criteria
+
+- A missing or non-numeric Content-Length returns HTTP 400.
+- A negative Content-Length returns HTTP 400.
+- A body larger than the cap (1 MiB, matching `supervise_server.py`) returns HTTP 413.
+- Valid Git smart-HTTP pushes and fetches continue to work.
+- Unit tests cover: missing length, non-numeric length, negative length, over-cap length, and a valid push/fetch passthrough.
+
+## Non-goals
+
+- No changes to git-gate authentication or route logic.
+- No changes to `supervise_server.py`.
+- No streaming / chunked-transfer-encoding support.
+- No TLS changes.
+
+## Scope
+
+In scope:
+
+- `bot_bottle/git_http_backend.py` request parsing and body reading.
+- Unit tests in `tests/unit/test_git_http_backend.py`.
+
+Out of scope:
+
+- Integration tests that drive a real Git client through the handler.
+
+## Design
+
+Wrap the Content-Length parse in a try/except and return 400 on `ValueError`. Add an explicit check for negative values. After parsing, compare the declared length against a module-level `MAX_BODY_BYTES` constant (default 1 MiB) and return 413 if exceeded. Read exactly `min(content_length, MAX_BODY_BYTES)` bytes.
+
+## Testing Strategy
+
+- Unit tests using `unittest.mock` to drive the handler with crafted headers.
+- Test cases: no Content-Length header, `Content-Length: abc`, `Content-Length: -1`, `Content-Length: 2097152` (over cap), and a normal small POST body.
+
+Run:
+
+- `python3 -m unittest tests.unit.test_git_http_backend`
+- `python3 -m unittest discover -s tests/unit`
+
+## Open Questions
+
+None.
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_git_http_backend.py b/tests/unit/test_git_http_backend.py
index d2abae8..037b6fc 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_git_http_backend.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_git_http_backend.py
@@ -165,5 +165,77 @@ class TestGitHttpBackend(unittest.TestCase):
             os.environ["GIT_GATE_ACCESS_HOOK"] = value
 
 
+class TestContentLengthBounds(unittest.TestCase):
+    """PRD 0041: malformed or oversized Content-Length is rejected before
+    git http-backend is invoked."""
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        from http.server import ThreadingHTTPServer
+        import tempfile, os
+        self._tmp = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        os.environ["GIT_PROJECT_ROOT"] = self._tmp
+        self._server = ThreadingHTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 0), GitHttpHandler)
+        self._thread = threading.Thread(
+            target=self._server.serve_forever, daemon=True,
+        )
+        self._thread.start()
+        self._port = self._server.server_port
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self._server.shutdown()
+        self._server.server_close()
+        os.environ.pop("GIT_PROJECT_ROOT", None)
+        import shutil
+        shutil.rmtree(self._tmp, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    def _post(self, path: str, *, content_length_header: str,
+              body: bytes = b"x") -> int:
+        req = urllib.request.Request(
+            f"http://127.0.0.1:{self._port}{path}",
+            data=body,
+            method="POST",
+        )
+        req.add_header("Content-Length", content_length_header)
+        req.add_header("Content-Type", "application/x-git-receive-pack-request")
+        try:
+            with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=3) as resp:
+                return resp.status
+        except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
+            return e.code
+
+    def test_non_numeric_content_length_returns_400(self):
+        status = self._post("/repo.git/git-receive-pack",
+                            content_length_header="abc")
+        self.assertEqual(400, status)
+
+    def test_negative_content_length_returns_400(self):
+        status = self._post("/repo.git/git-receive-pack",
+                            content_length_header="-1")
+        self.assertEqual(400, status)
+
+    def test_oversized_content_length_returns_413(self):
+        # Declare 2 MiB — over the 1 MiB cap.
+        status = self._post("/repo.git/git-receive-pack",
+                            content_length_header=str(2 * 1024 * 1024))
+        self.assertEqual(413, status)
+
+    def test_valid_small_body_passes_through(self):
+        # With a valid Content-Length the handler proceeds into
+        # git http-backend; that will fail (no real git repo) but the
+        # status won't be 400 or 413.
+        with mock.patch("bot_bottle.git_http_backend.subprocess.run") as run:
+            run.return_value = mock.Mock(
+                returncode=0,
+                stdout=(
+                    b"Status: 200 OK\r\n"
+                    b"Content-Type: application/x-git-receive-pack-result\r\n"
+                    b"\r\n"
+                ),
+            )
+            status = self._post("/repo.git/git-receive-pack",
+                                content_length_header="1", body=b"x")
+        self.assertNotIn(status, (400, 413))
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()