diff --git a/API.md b/API.md
index d8e861ed..3b65bae2 100755
--- a/API.md
+++ b/API.md
@@ -2035,9 +2035,11 @@ Note that named links must be found in a direct ancestor of the link. The names
 Links are resolved once (per runtime) and the result schema cached. If you reuse a link in different places, the first time it is resolved at run-time, the result will be used by all other instances. If you want each link to resolve relative to the place it is used, use a separate `Joi.link()` statement in each place or set the `relative()` flag.
 
 ::: warning
-It is strongly advised to set a [`link.maxRecursion(limit)`](#linkmaxrecursionlimit) on recursive links to bound the validation depth and protect against deeply nested inputs.
+It is strongly advised to set a [`link.maxRecursion(limit)`](#linkmaxrecursionlimit) on recursive links to bound the validation depth and protect against deeply nested inputs. As a safety net, when validation exceeds the runtime call stack while resolving a link, validation fails with the `link.depth` error code instead of crashing the process.
 :::
 
+Possible validation errors: [`link.depth`](#linkdepth)
+
 Named links:
 
 ```js
@@ -2108,6 +2110,8 @@ const schema = Joi.object({
 });
 ```
 
+Possible validation errors: [`link.maxRecursion`](#linkmaxrecursion)
+
 ### `number`
 
 Generates a schema object that matches a number data type (as well as strings that can be converted to numbers).
@@ -3952,6 +3956,21 @@ Additional local context properties:
 }
 ```
 
+#### `link.depth`
+
+The validation chain exceeded the runtime call stack while resolving a recursive link. Returned instead of throwing a `RangeError`. Set [`link.maxRecursion(limit)`](#linkmaxrecursionlimit) to bound the depth deterministically.
+
+#### `link.maxRecursion`
+
+The link was entered more times in a single validation chain than the limit set via [`link.maxRecursion(limit)`](#linkmaxrecursionlimit).
+
+Additional local context properties:
+```ts
+{
+    limit: number // Maximum number of times the link may be entered
+}
+```
+
 #### `number.base`
 
 The value is not a number or could not be cast to a number.
diff --git a/lib/types/link.js b/lib/types/link.js
index e7b59776..e3cd1b8a 100755
--- a/lib/types/link.js
+++ b/lib/types/link.js
@@ -65,7 +65,19 @@ module.exports = Any.extend({
 
         const linked = internals.generate(schema, value, state, prefs);
         const ref = schema.$_terms.link[0].ref;
-        return linked.$_validate(value, state.nest(linked, `link:${ref.display}:${linked.type}`), prefs);
+
+        try {
+            return linked.$_validate(value, state.nest(linked, `link:${ref.display}:${linked.type}`), prefs);
+        }
+        catch (err) {
+            /* $lab:coverage:off$ */
+            if (!(err instanceof RangeError)) {
+                throw err;
+            }
+            /* $lab:coverage:on$ */
+
+            return { value, errors: error('link.depth') };
+        }
     },
 
     generate(schema, value, state, prefs) {
@@ -109,6 +121,7 @@ module.exports = Any.extend({
     },
 
     messages: {
+        'link.depth': '{{#label}} exceeds maximum recursion depth supported by the runtime',
         'link.maxRecursion': '{{#label}} exceeds maximum recursion depth of {{#limit}}'
     },
 
diff --git a/test/types/link.js b/test/types/link.js
index 26e39cc8..727b5464 100755
--- a/test/types/link.js
+++ b/test/types/link.js
@@ -397,6 +397,26 @@ describe('link', () => {
         });
     });
 
+    describe('runtime stack overflow', () => {
+
+        it('reports a validation error instead of crashing on deeply nested recursive input', () => {
+
+            const schema = Joi.object({
+                a: Joi.link('/')
+            });
+
+            let value = {};
+            for (let i = 0; i < 5000; ++i) {
+                value = { a: value };
+            }
+
+            const { error } = schema.validate(value);
+            expect(error).to.exist();
+            expect(error.details[0].type).to.equal('link.depth');
+            expect(error.message).to.contain('exceeds maximum recursion depth supported by the runtime');
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('when()', () => {
 
         it('validates a schema with when()', () => {