diff --git a/packages/loopover-engine/src/discovery-index-contract.ts b/packages/loopover-engine/src/discovery-index-contract.ts
index b51be3af9e..6ec310f2a6 100644
--- a/packages/loopover-engine/src/discovery-index-contract.ts
+++ b/packages/loopover-engine/src/discovery-index-contract.ts
@@ -224,8 +224,17 @@ export function normalizeDiscoveryIndexResponse(raw: unknown): ParsedDiscoveryIn
     warnings.push("DiscoveryIndexResponse must be a mapping; falling back to an empty candidate list.");
   }
   const rawCandidates = record && Array.isArray(record.candidates) ? record.candidates : [];
+  // #6774: the request side clamps page size to MAX_PAGE_LIMIT, but this response comes from the OPTIONAL,
+  // only-partially-trusted hosted index (see this module's header). A misbehaving or compromised host could
+  // otherwise return an arbitrarily large `candidates` array and force unbounded client-side normalization. Cap
+  // it, dropping the overflow with a warning; the retained page and `nextCursor` still round-trip so pagination
+  // continues from the truncated page.
+  const boundedCandidates = rawCandidates.length > MAX_PAGE_LIMIT ? rawCandidates.slice(0, MAX_PAGE_LIMIT) : rawCandidates;
+  if (boundedCandidates.length < rawCandidates.length) {
+    warnings.push(`DiscoveryIndexResponse returned ${rawCandidates.length} candidates; capping to ${MAX_PAGE_LIMIT} and dropping the rest.`);
+  }
   const candidates: DiscoveryIndexCandidate[] = [];
-  for (const entry of rawCandidates) {
+  for (const entry of boundedCandidates) {
     const normalized = normalizeDiscoveryIndexCandidate(entry);
     if (normalized === null) {
       warnings.push("DiscoveryIndexResponse dropped an invalid or boundary-violating candidate.");
diff --git a/test/unit/discovery-index-contract.test.ts b/test/unit/discovery-index-contract.test.ts
index 728d1b5cd4..61e776a032 100644
--- a/test/unit/discovery-index-contract.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/discovery-index-contract.test.ts
@@ -173,5 +173,14 @@ describe("discovery-index API contract (#4300)", () => {
       expect(empty.warnings.join(" ")).toMatch(/must be a mapping/);
       expect(normalizeDiscoveryIndexResponse({ candidates: "nope", nextCursor: "  " }).response).toMatchObject({ candidates: [], nextCursor: null });
     });
+
+    it("caps an oversized candidate array at MAX_PAGE_LIMIT (200) with a warning, and still round-trips nextCursor for the truncated page (#6774)", () => {
+      // A misbehaving/compromised discovery-index host returns far more than the request-side page cap allows.
+      const oversized = Array.from({ length: 250 }, (_, i) => ({ ...VALID_CANDIDATE, issueNumber: i + 1 }));
+      const parsed = normalizeDiscoveryIndexResponse({ candidates: oversized, nextCursor: "page2==" });
+      expect(parsed.response.candidates).toHaveLength(200); // dropped the overflow rather than processing 250
+      expect(parsed.warnings.some((w) => /returned 250 candidates; capping to 200/.test(w))).toBe(true);
+      expect(parsed.response.nextCursor).toBe("page2=="); // truncation must not break forward pagination
+    });
   });
 });