diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/tophits/TopHitsAggregator.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/tophits/TopHitsAggregator.java
index 8433022b6c6..82dea4806a1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/tophits/TopHitsAggregator.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/tophits/TopHitsAggregator.java
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ public class TopHitsAggregator extends MetricsAggregator {
                 if (collectors == null) {
                     Sort sort = subSearchContext.sort();
                     int topN = subSearchContext.from() + subSearchContext.size();
+                    // In the QueryPhase we don't need this protection, because it is build into the IndexSearcher,
+                    // but here we create collectors ourselves and we need prevent OOM because of crazy an offset and size.
+                    topN = Math.min(topN, subSearchContext.searcher().getIndexReader().maxDoc());
                     TopDocsCollector<?> topLevelCollector = sort != null ? TopFieldCollector.create(sort, topN, true, subSearchContext.trackScores(), subSearchContext.trackScores()) : TopScoreDocCollector.create(topN);
                     collectors = new TopDocsAndLeafCollector(topLevelCollector);
                     collectors.leafCollector = collectors.topLevelCollector.getLeafCollector(ctx);
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/TopHitsTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/TopHitsTests.java
index 1f0a47522cd..f3ddb1ff284 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/TopHitsTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/TopHitsTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.bucket;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Explanation;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.ArrayUtil;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchPhaseExecutionException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
@@ -928,4 +929,20 @@ public class TopHitsTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDontExplode() throws Exception {
+        SearchResponse response = client()
+                .prepareSearch("idx")
+                .setTypes("type")
+                .addAggregation(terms("terms")
+                                .executionHint(randomExecutionHint())
+                                .field(TERMS_AGGS_FIELD)
+                                .subAggregation(
+                                        topHits("hits").setSize(ArrayUtil.MAX_ARRAY_LENGTH - 1).addSort(SortBuilders.fieldSort(SORT_FIELD).order(SortOrder.DESC))
+                                )
+                )
+                .get();
+        assertNoFailures(response);
+    }
 }