diff --git a/ext/syck/rubyext.c b/ext/syck/rubyext.c
index 4d7f7e2..3c31e74 100644
--- a/ext/syck/rubyext.c
+++ b/ext/syck/rubyext.c
@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ rb_syck_compile(VALUE self, VALUE port)
     SYMID oid;
     int taint;
     char *ret;
+    long blen;
+    VALUE ret_v;
     VALUE bc;
     bytestring_t *sav = NULL;
     void *data = NULL;
@@ -164,14 +166,15 @@ rb_syck_compile(VALUE self, VALUE port)
     }
     sav = data;
 
-    ret = S_ALLOCA_N( char, strlen( sav->buffer ) + 3 );
-    ret[0] = '\0';
-    strcat( ret, "D\n" );
-    strcat( ret, sav->buffer );
+    blen = (long)strlen( sav->buffer );
+    ret = ALLOCV_N( char, ret_v, blen + 3 );
+    memcpy( ret, "D\n", 2 );
+    memcpy( ret + 2, sav->buffer, (size_t)blen + 1 );
 
     syck_free_parser( parser );
 
-    bc = rb_str_new2( ret );
+    bc = rb_str_new( ret, blen + 2 );
+    ALLOCV_END( ret_v );
     if ( taint )      OBJ_TAINT( bc );
     return bc;
 }
@@ -1213,13 +1216,17 @@ syck_set_ivars(
 )
 {
     VALUE ivname = rb_ary_entry( vars, 0 );
+    VALUE ivn_v;
     char *ivn;
+    long ivn_len;
     StringValue( ivname );
-    ivn = S_ALLOCA_N( char, RSTRING_LEN(ivname) + 2 );
+    ivn_len = RSTRING_LEN(ivname);
+    ivn = ALLOCV_N( char, ivn_v, ivn_len + 2 );
     ivn[0] = '@';
-    ivn[1] = '\0';
-    strncat( ivn, RSTRING_PTR(ivname), RSTRING_LEN(ivname) );
+    memcpy( ivn + 1, RSTRING_PTR(ivname), (size_t)ivn_len );
+    ivn[ivn_len + 1] = '\0';
     rb_iv_set( obj, ivn, rb_ary_entry( vars, 1 ) );
+    ALLOCV_END( ivn_v );
     return Qnil;
 }
 
diff --git a/test/test_large_input.rb b/test/test_large_input.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e66f49e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_large_input.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+require 'helper'
+
+module Syck
+  # Both of these sized an `alloca` from the document. They are run on a Thread
+  # because a Ruby thread's stack is far smaller than the main stack, which is
+  # the shape a web or job worker actually has.
+  class TestLargeInput < Test::Unit::TestCase
+    SIZE = 4 * 1024 * 1024
+
+    def on_thread
+      Thread.new { yield }.value
+    end
+
+    def test_long_ivar_name
+      doc = "--- !ruby/object:Object\n" + ('n' * SIZE) + ": 1\n"
+      obj = on_thread { Syck.load(doc) }
+      assert_equal 1, obj.instance_variable_get("@#{'n' * SIZE}")
+    end
+
+    def test_long_compile_input
+      doc = "--- \n" + (0...(SIZE / 20)).map { |i| "k#{i}: v#{i}\n" }.join
+      bc = on_thread { Syck.compile(doc) }
+      assert_equal "D\n", bc[0, 2]
+    end
+  end
+end