diff --git a/test/test_management_report.py b/test/test_management_report.py
index 8c7803ea8..e50850703 100644
--- a/test/test_management_report.py
+++ b/test/test_management_report.py
@@ -244,6 +244,47 @@ class ManagementTests(unittest.TestCase):
                 self.assertNotIn("Traceback", errors.getvalue())
                 password_prompt.assert_not_called()
 
+    def test_cli_rejects_deep_mqtt_jsonl_before_password_prompt(self):
+        path = Path(self.work.name) / "cli-deep-jsonl.json"
+        deep = '{"metadata":' * 10000 + "0" + "}" * 10000
+        for text in ("{}\n" + deep, deep + "\n{}"):
+            path.write_text(text, encoding="ascii")
+            output, errors = io.StringIO(), io.StringIO()
+            with mock.patch.object(report.getpass, "getpass") as password_prompt, \
+                    mock.patch.object(sys, "argv", ["report.py", str(path), "--mqtt"]), \
+                    contextlib.redirect_stdout(output), contextlib.redirect_stderr(errors):
+                with self.assertRaises(SystemExit) as failure:
+                    report.main()
+            self.assertEqual(failure.exception.code, 2)
+            self.assertEqual(output.getvalue(), "")
+            self.assertIn("nested too deeply", errors.getvalue())
+            self.assertNotIn("Traceback", errors.getvalue())
+            password_prompt.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_input_json_depth_limit_is_explicit_and_checks_before_decoding(self):
+        limit = report.MAX_JSON_DEPTH
+        for opening, closing in (("[", "]"), ('{"metadata":', "}")):
+            with self.subTest(opening=opening):
+                value = report._load_input_json(opening * limit + "0" + closing * limit)
+                for _ in range(limit):
+                    value = value[0] if isinstance(value, list) else value["metadata"]
+                self.assertEqual(value, 0)
+                text = opening * (limit + 1) + "0" + closing * (limit + 1)
+                with mock.patch.object(report.json, "loads") as decoder:
+                    with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "nested too deeply"):
+                        report._load_input_json(text)
+                    decoder.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_input_json_depth_ignores_string_brackets_and_escaped_quotes(self):
+        text = 'brackets [{]} and quote " and backslash \\ ' * 1000
+        document = {"metadata": text, "raw": "\\"}
+        self.assertEqual(report._load_input_json(json.dumps(document)), document)
+        # An escaped backslash before a closing quote must not hide the next
+        # actual container, including when the following record exceeds depth.
+        deep = "[" * report.MAX_JSON_DEPTH + "0" + "]" * report.MAX_JSON_DEPTH
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "nested too deeply"):
+            report._load_input_json("[" + json.dumps("\\") + "," + deep + "]")
+
     def test_interoperable_full_report(self):
         decoded = report.decode_report(list(reversed(self.pages)), "management test password")
         self.assertEqual(decoded["sequence"], 42)
diff --git a/tools/management/report.py b/tools/management/report.py
index 321a05d12..78b66dd52 100644
--- a/tools/management/report.py
+++ b/tools/management/report.py
@@ -15,6 +15,31 @@ from pathlib import Path
 
 HEADER, ENTRY, PER_PAGE, TAG, MAX_KEYS = 83, 13, 6, 16, 36
 CURRENT_HEADER, CURRENT_PER_PAGE = 111, 4
+MAX_JSON_DEPTH = 64
+
+
+def _load_input_json(text):
+    # Do not rely on the interpreter's JSON scanner using recursive calls.
+    # Check before decoding so excessive containers never become a deep tree.
+    depth = 0
+    quoted = escaped = False
+    for char in text:
+        if quoted:
+            if escaped:
+                escaped = False
+            elif char == "\\":
+                escaped = True
+            elif char == '"':
+                quoted = False
+        elif char == '"':
+            quoted = True
+        elif char in "[{":
+            depth += 1
+            if depth > MAX_JSON_DEPTH:
+                raise ValueError("input JSON is nested too deeply")
+        elif char in "]}":
+            depth -= 1
+    return json.loads(text)
 
 
 def _layout(payload):
@@ -258,9 +283,10 @@ def main():
                 raise ValueError("administrator key must be 32 bytes")
         text = args.pages.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         if args.mqtt:
-            messages = json.loads(text) if text.lstrip().startswith("[") else [json.loads(line) for line in text.splitlines() if line.strip()]
+            messages = (_load_input_json(text) if text.lstrip().startswith("[") else
+                        [_load_input_json(line) for line in text.splitlines() if line.strip()])
         else:
-            payloads = [bytes.fromhex(p) for p in json.loads(text)]
+            payloads = [bytes.fromhex(p) for p in _load_input_json(text)]
         password = getpass.getpass("Management password: ")
         if args.mqtt:
             reports = mqtt_reports(messages, password)