diff --git a/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py b/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py
index 9c492022221bb..6b38225250559 100644
--- a/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py
+++ b/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py
@@ -193,6 +193,9 @@ def __init_subclass__(cls, **kwargs):
                 setattr(cls, attr, _check_flag_and_exit_if_server_response_error(value))
 
     def execute_list(self, *, path, data_model, offset=0, limit=50, params=None):
+        if limit <= 0:
+            raise ValueError(f"limit must be a positive integer, got {limit}")
+
         shared_params = {"limit": limit, **(params or {})}
 
         def safe_validate(content: bytes) -> BaseModel:
diff --git a/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py b/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py
index 8254409863261..44c5ab3231b69 100644
--- a/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py
+++ b/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py
@@ -226,6 +226,16 @@ def test_execute_list_sends_limit_on_subsequent_pages(self):
         for call in mock_client.get.call_args_list:
             assert call.kwargs["params"]["limit"] == 2
 
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("limit", [0, -1])
+    def test_execute_list_rejects_non_positive_limit(self, limit):
+        mock_client = Mock()
+        base_operation = BaseOperations(client=mock_client)
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="limit must be a positive integer"):
+            base_operation.execute_list(path="hello", data_model=HelloCollectionResponse, limit=limit)
+
+        mock_client.get.assert_not_called()
+
 
 class TestAssetsOperations:
     asset_id: int = 1