diff --git a/src/libstore/derivations.cc b/src/libstore/derivations.cc
index b926bb711..616e78076 100644
--- a/src/libstore/derivations.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/derivations.cc
@@ -272,7 +272,15 @@ Derivation parseDerivation(const Store & store, std::string && s, std::string_vi
 
 static void printString(string & res, std::string_view s)
 {
-    char buf[s.size() * 2 + 2];
+    char * buf;
+    size_t bufSize = s.size() * 2 + 2;
+    std::unique_ptr<char[]> dynBuf;
+    if (bufSize < 0x10000) {
+        buf = (char *)alloca(bufSize);
+    } else {
+        dynBuf = decltype(dynBuf)(new char[bufSize]);
+        buf = dynBuf.get();
+    }
     char * p = buf;
     *p++ = '"';
     for (auto c : s)
diff --git a/tests/big-derivation-attr.nix b/tests/big-derivation-attr.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..35c1187f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/big-derivation-attr.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+let
+  sixteenBytes = "0123456789abcdef";
+  times16 = s: builtins.concatStringsSep "" [s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s];
+  exp = n: x: if n == 1 then x else times16 (exp (n - 1) x);
+  sixteenMegabyte = exp 6 sixteenBytes;
+in
+assert builtins.stringLength sixteenMegabyte == 16777216;
+derivation {
+  name = "big-derivation-attr";
+  builder = "/x";
+  system = "y";
+  bigAttr = sixteenMegabyte;
+}
diff --git a/tests/simple.sh b/tests/simple.sh
index 15bd2bd16..50d44f93f 100644
--- a/tests/simple.sh
+++ b/tests/simple.sh
@@ -25,3 +25,9 @@ if test "$outPath" != "/foo/lfy1s6ca46rm5r6w4gg9hc0axiakjcnm-dependencies.drv";
     echo "hashDerivationModulo appears broken, got $outPath"
     exit 1
 fi
+
+outPath="$(NIX_REMOTE=local?store=/foo\&real=$TEST_ROOT/real-store nix-instantiate --readonly-mode big-derivation-attr.nix)"
+if test "$outPath" != "/foo/xxiwa5zlaajv6xdjynf9yym9g319d6mn-big-derivation-attr.drv"; then
+    echo "big-derivation-attr.nix hash appears broken, got $outPath. Memory corruption in large drv attr?"
+    exit 1
+fi