diff --git a/libraries/MTConnect.NET-XML/XsdPreprocessor.cs b/libraries/MTConnect.NET-XML/XsdPreprocessor.cs
index 9bdb8b734..1fd717232 100644
--- a/libraries/MTConnect.NET-XML/XsdPreprocessor.cs
+++ b/libraries/MTConnect.NET-XML/XsdPreprocessor.cs
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@ public static class XsdPreprocessor
     {
         private const string XsdNamespace = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema";
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Upper bound on the size of an XSD source the preprocessor accepts, in UTF-16 characters
+        /// (roughly bytes for ASCII XSDs). MTConnect XSDs ship well under 500 KB; the 10 MB gate
+        /// keeps a bounded ceiling on parser memory and short-circuits XML entity-expansion attacks
+        /// before the underlying reader allocates. Exposed as a constant so the pinning tests can
+        /// straddle the boundary without a magic number.
+        /// </summary>
+        public const int MaxSourceCharacters = 10_000_000;
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Returns a copy of <paramref name="xsdSourceXml"/> with every XSD
         /// 1.1-only construct removed. Idempotent: re-running on the
@@ -51,23 +60,55 @@ public static class XsdPreprocessor
         /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">
         /// Thrown when <paramref name="xsdSourceXml"/> is null.
         /// </exception>
+        /// <exception cref="System.Xml.XmlException">
+        /// Thrown when <paramref name="xsdSourceXml"/> exceeds
+        /// <see cref="MaxSourceCharacters"/> — the guard rail against XML entity-expansion attacks.
+        /// </exception>
         public static string StripXsd11Constructs(string xsdSourceXml)
         {
             if (xsdSourceXml == null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(xsdSourceXml));
             if (xsdSourceXml.Length == 0) return xsdSourceXml;
 
+            // Fail loud before parsing: a caller who lobbed a > 10 MB payload at the preprocessor
+            // has almost certainly hit an entity-expansion attack (billion-laughs / quadratic-
+            // blowup) or a runaway build-side generator. Silently returning the raw source would
+            // hand the payload down to XmlSchema.Read, which lacks a matching size cap.
+            if (xsdSourceXml.Length > MaxSourceCharacters)
+            {
+                throw new System.Xml.XmlException(
+                    $"XSD source exceeds the {MaxSourceCharacters:N0}-character preprocessor limit; " +
+                    "refusing to parse to avoid unbounded resource consumption.");
+            }
+
             XDocument doc;
             try
             {
-                using (var reader = new StringReader(xsdSourceXml))
+                // XDocument.Load(TextReader, LoadOptions) uses default XmlReaderSettings, which
+                // in .NET 4.0+ disables DTD processing by default but leaves DocumentDoS-shape
+                // limits at their permissive defaults (MaxCharactersInDocument = 0 → unbounded,
+                // MaxCharactersFromEntities = 0 → unbounded). Route through an explicitly-tightened
+                // XmlReader so the loader rejects DTDs, refuses to resolve external entities, and
+                // caps the document at 10 MB / entity expansion at 0 characters to shut down the
+                // classic billion-laughs and quadratic-blowup XML entity attacks. The XSD source
+                // is untrusted — an operator can point the preprocessor at any XSD URL — so the
+                // hardening runs at every entry.
+                var settings = new System.Xml.XmlReaderSettings
+                {
+                    DtdProcessing = System.Xml.DtdProcessing.Prohibit,
+                    XmlResolver = null,
+                    MaxCharactersInDocument = 10_000_000,
+                    MaxCharactersFromEntities = 0,
+                };
+                using (var stringReader = new StringReader(xsdSourceXml))
+                using (var xmlReader = System.Xml.XmlReader.Create(stringReader, settings))
                 {
-                    doc = XDocument.Load(reader, LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);
+                    doc = XDocument.Load(xmlReader, LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);
                 }
             }
             catch (System.Xml.XmlException)
             {
-                // Not well-formed XML — let the downstream BCL reader emit
-                // the parse error so the caller's error path stays
+                // Not well-formed XML, or exceeds the DTD/size guard rails above — let the
+                // downstream BCL reader emit the parse error so the caller's error path stays
                 // consistent.
                 return xsdSourceXml;
             }
diff --git a/tests/MTConnect.NET-XML-Tests/Xml/XsdPreprocessorSecurityTests.cs b/tests/MTConnect.NET-XML-Tests/Xml/XsdPreprocessorSecurityTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..48db41062
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/MTConnect.NET-XML-Tests/Xml/XsdPreprocessorSecurityTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 TrakHound Inc., All Rights Reserved.
+// TrakHound Inc. licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+
+using System.Text;
+using System.Xml;
+using NUnit.Framework;
+
+namespace MTConnect.Xml.Tests
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Pins the DoS-hardening guard rails on <see cref="XsdPreprocessor.StripXsd11Constructs(string)"/>.
+    /// The preprocessor loads untrusted XSD text; without the hardening a hostile source can trigger
+    /// the classic XML entity-expansion attacks (billion-laughs, quadratic blowup) or exhaust memory
+    /// through a runaway payload.
+    /// </summary>
+    [TestFixture]
+    [Category("XsdPreprocessorSecurity")]
+    public class XsdPreprocessorSecurityTests
+    {
+        /// <summary>Pins that a source exceeding the character limit raises <see cref="XmlException"/> instead of allocating an unbounded XmlReader.</summary>
+        [Test]
+        public void StripXsd11Constructs_OversizedInput_RaisesXmlException()
+        {
+            // Cheap oversized payload: a single well-formed root element with padding pushing the
+            // total length just past the guard. The padding lives inside the element so the XML is
+            // still parseable — the size gate must fire before the parser sees it.
+            var padding = new string('a', XsdPreprocessor.MaxSourceCharacters);
+            var oversized =
+                "<xs:schema xmlns:xs=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\">"
+                + $"<xs:annotation><xs:documentation>{padding}</xs:documentation></xs:annotation>"
+                + "</xs:schema>";
+
+            Assert.That(oversized.Length, Is.GreaterThan(XsdPreprocessor.MaxSourceCharacters),
+                "the payload must straddle the size gate for the test to be meaningful");
+            Assert.Throws<XmlException>(() => XsdPreprocessor.StripXsd11Constructs(oversized));
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>Pins that a source referencing an external DTD is rejected — the hardened reader has DtdProcessing set to Prohibit.</summary>
+        [Test]
+        public void StripXsd11Constructs_ExternalDtdReference_ReturnsSource_Unprocessed()
+        {
+            // A well-formed XML with a DOCTYPE declaration. The hardened reader must refuse to
+            // process the DTD; the preprocessor catches the resulting XmlException and returns the
+            // raw source (existing not-well-formed contract).
+            const string withDtd =
+                "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>"
+                + "<!DOCTYPE xs:schema SYSTEM \"http://example.invalid/malicious.dtd\">"
+                + "<xs:schema xmlns:xs=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\"/>";
+
+            var result = XsdPreprocessor.StripXsd11Constructs(withDtd);
+
+            // Not-well-formed / DTD-prohibited inputs land in the catch and return the raw source
+            // for the downstream schema reader to error out consistently.
+            Assert.That(result, Is.EqualTo(withDtd));
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>Pins that a source with an internal DTD entity expansion is rejected — the hardened reader has DtdProcessing set to Prohibit, so the entity is never expanded.</summary>
+        [Test]
+        public void StripXsd11Constructs_InternalDtdEntityExpansion_ReturnsSource_Unprocessed()
+        {
+            // Simplified billion-laughs shape: three levels of entity expansion. Any bytes-in-entities
+            // pass would blow up the parser; the DTD prohibition means the parser never even sees
+            // the definitions.
+            var sb = new StringBuilder();
+            sb.Append("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>");
+            sb.Append("<!DOCTYPE xs:schema [");
+            sb.Append("<!ENTITY a \"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\">");
+            sb.Append("<!ENTITY b \"&a;&a;&a;&a;&a;&a;&a;&a;&a;&a;\">");
+            sb.Append("<!ENTITY c \"&b;&b;&b;&b;&b;&b;&b;&b;&b;&b;\">");
+            sb.Append("]>");
+            sb.Append("<xs:schema xmlns:xs=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\"><xs:element name=\"x\">&c;</xs:element></xs:schema>");
+            var laugh = sb.ToString();
+
+            var result = XsdPreprocessor.StripXsd11Constructs(laugh);
+
+            Assert.That(result, Is.EqualTo(laugh),
+                "the DTD-prohibited reader must refuse the entity-expansion payload and the " +
+                "preprocessor must return the raw source unprocessed");
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>Pins that a well-formed, small XSD still round-trips through the hardened loader.</summary>
+        [Test]
+        public void StripXsd11Constructs_SmallWellFormedXsd_RoundTripsThroughHardenedLoader()
+        {
+            // Regression guard: the hardening MUST NOT break the happy path for the shipped
+            // MTConnect XSDs, which are well under the size cap and carry no DTD.
+            const string xsd =
+                "<xs:schema xmlns:xs=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" targetNamespace=\"urn:test\">"
+                + "<xs:element name=\"Root\" type=\"xs:string\"/>"
+                + "</xs:schema>";
+
+            var result = XsdPreprocessor.StripXsd11Constructs(xsd);
+
+            Assert.That(result, Is.Not.Null.And.Not.Empty);
+            Assert.That(result, Does.Contain("<xs:element"),
+                "the round-trip must preserve the schema's structural elements");
+        }
+    }
+}