diff --git a/src/glyphset.mjs b/src/glyphset.mjs
index 4aaa6871..c0525c66 100644
--- a/src/glyphset.mjs
+++ b/src/glyphset.mjs
@@ -134,10 +134,29 @@ function ttfGlyphLoader(font, index, parseGlyph, data, position, buildPath) {
         const glyph = new Glyph({index: index, font: font});
 
         glyph.path = function() {
-            parseGlyph(glyph, data, position);
-            const path = buildPath(font.glyphs, glyph);
-            path.unitsPerEm = font.unitsPerEm;
-            return path;
+            const pathLoadStack = font._glyphPathLoadStack || (font._glyphPathLoadStack = []);
+            if (glyph._isLoadingPath) {
+                const cycleStart = pathLoadStack.indexOf(index);
+                const cycle = cycleStart === -1 ?
+                    [index, index] :
+                    pathLoadStack.slice(cycleStart).concat(index);
+                throw new Error(`Circular component reference detected: ${cycle.join(' -> ')}`);
+            }
+
+            glyph._isLoadingPath = true;
+            pathLoadStack.push(index);
+            try {
+                parseGlyph(glyph, data, position);
+                const path = buildPath(font.glyphs, glyph);
+                path.unitsPerEm = font.unitsPerEm;
+                return path;
+            } finally {
+                pathLoadStack.pop();
+                glyph._isLoadingPath = false;
+                if (pathLoadStack.length === 0) {
+                    delete font._glyphPathLoadStack;
+                }
+            }
         };
 
         defineDependentProperty(glyph, 'numberOfContours', '_numberOfContours');
diff --git a/test/fonts/CompositeCycle.ttf b/test/fonts/CompositeCycle.ttf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c2520c84
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fonts/CompositeCycle.ttf differ
diff --git a/test/fonts/generate-composite-cycle-font.mjs b/test/fonts/generate-composite-cycle-font.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e5c9b68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fonts/generate-composite-cycle-font.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+import { writeFileSync } from 'fs';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
+import sfnt from '../../src/tables/sfnt.mjs';
+import table from '../../src/table.mjs';
+import cmap from '../../src/tables/cmap.mjs';
+import head from '../../src/tables/head.mjs';
+import hhea from '../../src/tables/hhea.mjs';
+import maxp from '../../src/tables/maxp.mjs';
+import name from '../../src/tables/name.mjs';
+import post from '../../src/tables/post.mjs';
+
+const TRUE_TYPE_SIGNATURE = String.fromCharCode(0, 1, 0, 0);
+const COMPOSITE_FLAGS = {
+    ARG_1_AND_2_ARE_WORDS: 0x0001,
+    ARGS_ARE_XY_VALUES: 0x0002,
+    MORE_COMPONENTS: 0x0020
+};
+
+function makeByteTable(tableName, bytes) {
+    return new table.Table(tableName, bytes.map((value, index) => ({
+        name: `byte_${index}`,
+        type: 'BYTE',
+        value
+    })));
+}
+
+function makeUShortTable(tableName, values) {
+    return new table.Table(tableName, values.map((value, index) => ({
+        name: `ushort_${index}`,
+        type: 'USHORT',
+        value
+    })));
+}
+
+function makeHmtxTable(advanceWidths, leftSideBearings) {
+    const fields = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < advanceWidths.length; i += 1) {
+        fields.push({name: `advanceWidth_${i}`, type: 'USHORT', value: advanceWidths[i]});
+        fields.push({name: `leftSideBearing_${i}`, type: 'SHORT', value: leftSideBearings[i]});
+    }
+    return new table.Table('hmtx', fields);
+}
+
+function createNames() {
+    const unicode = {
+        copyright: {en: ' '},
+        fontFamily: {en: 'Composite Cycle Test'},
+        fontSubfamily: {en: 'Regular'},
+        uniqueID: {en: 'Composite Cycle Test Regular'},
+        fullName: {en: 'Composite Cycle Test Regular'},
+        version: {en: 'Version 1.0'},
+        postScriptName: {en: 'CompositeCycleTest-Regular'},
+        trademark: {en: ' '}
+    };
+
+    return {
+        unicode,
+        windows: unicode,
+        macintosh: unicode
+    };
+}
+
+function createGlyphMetadata() {
+    const glyphs = [
+        {name: '.notdef', unicodes: []},
+        {name: 'cycleA', unicode: 65, unicodes: [65]},
+        {name: 'cycleB', unicode: 66, unicodes: [66]}
+    ];
+
+    return {
+        length: glyphs.length,
+        get(index) {
+            return glyphs[index];
+        }
+    };
+}
+
+function createGlyfBytes() {
+    return [
+        // glyph 0: empty .notdef
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+
+        // glyph 1: composite referencing glyph 2
+        0xFF, 0xFF,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x23,
+        0x00, 0x02,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+
+        // glyph 2: composite referencing glyph 1
+        0xFF, 0xFF,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x03,
+        0x00, 0x01,
+        0x00, 0x00,
+        0x00, 0x00
+    ];
+}
+
+export function makeCompositeCycleFontBuffer() {
+    const glyphs = createGlyphMetadata();
+    const tables = [
+        cmap.make(glyphs),
+        head.make({
+            unitsPerEm: 1000,
+            indexToLocFormat: 0,
+            lowestRecPPEM: 3
+        }),
+        hhea.make({
+            ascender: 800,
+            descender: -200,
+            advanceWidthMax: 500,
+            numberOfHMetrics: glyphs.length
+        }),
+        maxp.make(glyphs.length),
+        makeByteTable('glyf', createGlyfBytes()),
+        makeUShortTable('loca', [0, 5, 14, 23]),
+        makeHmtxTable([500, 500, 500], [0, 0, 0]),
+        name.make(createNames(), []),
+        post.make({tables: {}})
+    ];
+
+    const sfntTable = sfnt.make(tables);
+    sfntTable.version = TRUE_TYPE_SIGNATURE;
+
+    const bytes = sfntTable.encode();
+    const checkSum = sfnt.computeCheckSum(bytes);
+    for (let i = 0; i < sfntTable.fields.length; i += 1) {
+        if (sfntTable.fields[i].name === 'head table') {
+            sfntTable.fields[i].value.checkSumAdjustment = 0xB1B0AFBA - checkSum;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return new Uint8Array(sfntTable.encode()).buffer;
+}
+
+const outputPath = fileURLToPath(new URL('./CompositeCycle.ttf', import.meta.url));
+if (process.argv[1] === fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)) {
+    const buffer = new Uint8Array(makeCompositeCycleFontBuffer());
+    writeFileSync(outputPath, buffer);
+    const aComponentFlags = COMPOSITE_FLAGS.ARG_1_AND_2_ARE_WORDS |
+        COMPOSITE_FLAGS.ARGS_ARE_XY_VALUES |
+        COMPOSITE_FLAGS.MORE_COMPONENTS;
+    const bComponentFlags = COMPOSITE_FLAGS.ARG_1_AND_2_ARE_WORDS |
+        COMPOSITE_FLAGS.ARGS_ARE_XY_VALUES;
+    console.log(`Wrote ${outputPath} (${buffer.byteLength} bytes, flags ${aComponentFlags}/${bComponentFlags}).`);
+}
diff --git a/test/glyph.spec.mjs b/test/glyph.spec.mjs
index 9793f053..a218cc70 100644
--- a/test/glyph.spec.mjs
+++ b/test/glyph.spec.mjs
@@ -173,6 +173,26 @@ describe('glyph.mjs', function() {
         });
     });
 
+    describe('composite glyph cycle detection', function() {
+        function loadCompositeCycleFont(opt) {
+            return loadSync('./test/fonts/CompositeCycle.ttf', opt);
+        }
+
+        it('throws a controlled error for circular composite references', function() {
+            const font = loadCompositeCycleFont();
+            assert.throws(function() {
+                font.glyphs.get(1).getPath();
+            }, /Circular component reference/);
+        });
+
+        it('throws a controlled error for circular composite references in low memory mode', function() {
+            const font = loadCompositeCycleFont({lowMemory: true});
+            assert.throws(function() {
+                font.glyphs.get(1).getPath();
+            }, /Circular component reference/);
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('color glyph drawing/rendering', function() {
         it('draws and renders layers correctly', function() {
             let contextLogs = [];