diff --git a/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c b/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c
index faaf5e1fd..d9989a541 100644
--- a/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c
+++ b/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c
@@ -6015,6 +6015,10 @@ static int create_pid_file(void) {
 	if ((res = get_runtime_dir(pid_file, sizeof(pid_file), "pulse")) < 0) {
 		return res;
 	}
+	if (strlen(pid_file) > PATH_MAX - 5) {
+		pw_log_error(NAME" %s/pid too long", pid_file);
+		return -ENAMETOOLONG;
+	}
 	strcat(pid_file, "/pid");
 
 	snprintf(pid_str, sizeof(pid_str), "%lu\n", (unsigned long)getpid());