diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java b/src/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java
index 83cba9148..190a272a0 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java
@@ -160,6 +160,10 @@ public class ObjectInputStream extends DataInputStream
             // and return the newly read object
             return target;
 
+        } catch (OutOfMemoryError oome) {
+            throw (IOException)
+                new IOException("Malformed object data").initCause(oome);
+
         } finally {
             // clear out our current object references
             _current = null;