diff --git a/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/+server.ts b/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/+server.ts
index 9a66699d..887ef530 100644
--- a/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/+server.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/+server.ts
@@ -35,11 +35,21 @@ async function proxy(event: Parameters<RequestHandler>[0]): Promise<Response> {
 
 	const hasBody = !NO_BODY_METHODS.has(event.request.method);
 
+	// Early exit: reject well-behaved clients that advertise an oversized body
+	// before we buffer anything.
 	const contentLength = event.request.headers.get('Content-Length');
 	if (contentLength && parseInt(contentLength, 10) > 1_048_576) {
 		return new Response('Payload Too Large', { status: 413 });
 	}
 
+	// Buffer the body so we can check its actual size. This also catches chunked
+	// requests that omit Content-Length entirely (parseInt(null) → NaN → passes
+	// the header check above).
+	const bodyBuffer = hasBody ? await event.request.arrayBuffer() : undefined;
+	if (bodyBuffer && bodyBuffer.byteLength > 1_048_576) {
+		return new Response('Payload Too Large', { status: 413 });
+	}
+
 	// Only forward Content-Type from the browser request — other headers (Cookie,
 	// Authorization, Accept-Encoding, etc.) must not be forwarded directly.
 	// Authentication is injected by handleFetch in hooks.server.ts from the
@@ -51,7 +61,7 @@ async function proxy(event: Parameters<RequestHandler>[0]): Promise<Response> {
 	const response = await event.fetch(backendUrl, {
 		method: event.request.method,
 		headers: requestHeaders,
-		body: hasBody ? await event.request.arrayBuffer() : undefined
+		body: bodyBuffer
 	});
 
 	// Forward all response headers except hop-by-hop so that Content-Disposition,
diff --git a/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/proxy.spec.ts b/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/proxy.spec.ts
index f681799b..745134a2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/proxy.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/routes/api/[...path]/proxy.spec.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,21 @@ describe('catch-all API proxy — body size limit', () => {
 		expect(mockFetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
 	});
 
+	it('returns 413 when actual body exceeds 1 MB even if Content-Length header is absent or lying', async () => {
+		const mockFetch = vi.fn();
+		const event = makeEvent('documents', 'POST', mockFetch);
+		(event.request as Request) = new Request('http://localhost/api/documents', {
+			method: 'POST',
+			headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/octet-stream', 'Content-Length': '0' },
+			body: new Uint8Array(1_048_577) // 1 MB + 1 byte, but Content-Length says 0
+		});
+
+		const response = await POST(event as never);
+
+		expect(response.status).toBe(413);
+		expect(mockFetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+	});
+
 	it('forwards request when Content-Length header is absent', async () => {
 		const mockFetch = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(new Response('{}', { status: 200 }));
 		const event = makeEvent('documents', 'POST', mockFetch);