diff --git a/crates/engine/src/cmd/place/doc.rs b/crates/engine/src/cmd/place/doc.rs
index c1d40a34d..8e9ff7c04 100644
--- a/crates/engine/src/cmd/place/doc.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/src/cmd/place/doc.rs
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ const MAX_STREAM: u64 = 64 << 20;
 const MAX_PIECES: usize = 100_000;
 /// The most 512-byte pages of character or of paragraph properties read.
 const MAX_PAGES: usize = 16_384;
-/// The most styles read from the style sheet (`Stshif.cstd` is below 0x0FFE).
+/// The style count `Stshif.cstd` must be below.
 const MAX_STYLES: usize = 0x0FFE;
 /// The most fonts read from the font table (SttbfFfn's `cData` is at most 0x7FF0).
 const MAX_FONTS: usize = 0x7FF0;
@@ -505,14 +505,17 @@ impl Sheet {
         let broken = || damaged(cmd, "its style sheet is damaged");
         let size = usize::from(u16_at(stsh, 0).ok_or_else(broken)?);
         let stshi = bytes_at(stsh, 2, size).ok_or_else(broken)?;
-        let count = usize::from(u16_at(stshi, 0).ok_or_else(broken)?).min(MAX_STYLES);
+        let count = usize::from(u16_at(stshi, 0).ok_or_else(broken)?);
+        if count >= MAX_STYLES {
+            return Err(broken());
+        }
         // cbSTDBaseInFile: StdfBase, and StdfPost2000 when it is 18.
         let base_size = usize::from(u16_at(stshi, 2).ok_or_else(broken)?).max(10);
         let font = u16_at(stshi, 12);
         let mut at = 2 + size;
         let mut styles = Vec::with_capacity(count);
         for _ in 0..count {
-            let Some(len) = u16_at(stsh, at) else { break };
+            let len = u16_at(stsh, at).ok_or_else(broken)?;
             let std = bytes_at(stsh, at + 2, usize::from(len)).ok_or_else(broken)?;
             styles.push(if std.is_empty() { None } else { Some(style(std, base_size).ok_or_else(broken)?) });
             // LPStd records start on even offsets.
diff --git a/crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs b/crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs
index 78b7c8977..f2aaa6b38 100644
--- a/crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs
@@ -491,6 +491,8 @@ struct Word97 {
     papx: Vec<(u32, u16, Vec<u8>)>,
     /// The styles by istd; None: an empty slot.
     styles: Vec<Option<Word97Style>>,
+    /// A style count `Stshif.cstd` to write instead of the styles'.
+    cstd: Option<u16>,
     fonts: Vec<&'static str>,
     /// FibBase's flags and `nFib` (0: 0x00C1).
     flags: u16,
@@ -609,7 +611,7 @@ impl Word97 {
         let plc: Vec<u8> = cps.iter().flat_map(|c| c.to_le_bytes()).chain(pcds).collect();
         let clx = self.clx.clone().unwrap_or_else(|| [vec![0x02], (plc.len() as u32).to_le_bytes().to_vec(), plc].concat());
         let words = |v: &[u16]| v.iter().flat_map(|w| w.to_le_bytes()).collect::<Vec<u8>>();
-        let mut stsh = words(&[18, self.styles.len() as u16, 10, 1, 0, 15, 0, 0, 0, 0]);
+        let mut stsh = words(&[18, self.cstd.unwrap_or(self.styles.len() as u16), 10, 1, 0, 15, 0, 0, 0, 0]);
         for (istd, s) in self.styles.iter().enumerate() {
             let Some((stk, base, papx, chpx)) = s else {
                 stsh.extend([0, 0]);
@@ -879,6 +881,13 @@ fn malformed_doc_fails_cleanly() {
     let styles = vec![Some((1, 1, vec![], vec![])), Some((1, 0, vec![], vec![]))];
     let e = place(&mut s, "a.doc", &Word97 { styles, ..words() }.build()).unwrap_err();
     assert!(e.contains("style sheet is damaged"), "{e}");
+    // A style sheet with fewer styles than its count, and one with 0x0FFE styles (`cstd` "MUST be
+    // less than 0x0FFE", Stshif).
+    let styles = vec![Some((1, 0x0FFF, vec![], vec![]))];
+    let e = place(&mut s, "a.doc", &Word97 { styles, cstd: Some(2), ..words() }.build()).unwrap_err();
+    assert!(e.contains("style sheet is damaged"), "{e}");
+    let e = place(&mut s, "a.doc", &Word97 { styles: vec![None; 0x0FFE], ..words() }.build()).unwrap_err();
+    assert!(e.contains("style sheet is damaged"), "{e}");
     let r = place(&mut s, "a.doc", &words().build()).unwrap();
     assert_eq!(placed(&s, &r).0, "words");
     assert_eq!(s.doc().unwrap().history.undo.len(), 5, "failed places leave no undo step");
diff --git a/docs/mcp.md b/docs/mcp.md
index 9bcc36553..c25d6240c 100644
--- a/docs/mcp.md
+++ b/docs/mcp.md
@@ -3901,8 +3901,9 @@ tracked changes, tables, and the other stories the document has); a field with n
 warning. Documents saved by Word 6.0 or Word 95, encrypted or password-protected documents and documents last saved with
 fast save are refused, and so are a stream larger than 64 MiB, a document with more than 4 MiB of text, 100,000 pieces,
 16,384 pages of properties or 100,000 paragraphs or runs, one whose 16-bit text holds half of a surrogate pair, one
-whose structures lie outside their streams, one whose property pages are out of order, listed twice or overlap, and one
-whose styles are based on each other in a loop.
+whose structures lie outside their streams, one whose property pages are out of order, listed twice or overlap, one whose
+style sheet counts 4,094 styles or more or holds fewer styles than it counts, and one whose styles are based on each
+other in a loop.
 `file.place` answers `format: "doc"`.
 
 ## PDF presets