diff --git a/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/record/HwmfPlaceableHeader.java b/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/record/HwmfPlaceableHeader.java
index 82aba4b12d5..7dc5baae59b 100644
--- a/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/record/HwmfPlaceableHeader.java
+++ b/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/record/HwmfPlaceableHeader.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 
 import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndianConsts;
 import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndianInputStream;
+import org.apache.poi.util.RecordFormatException;
 
 public class HwmfPlaceableHeader {
     public static final int WMF_HEADER_MAGIC = 0x9AC6CDD7;
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ public class HwmfPlaceableHeader {
     final Rectangle2D bounds;
     final int unitsPerInch;
     
-    protected HwmfPlaceableHeader(LittleEndianInputStream leis) throws IOException {
+    protected HwmfPlaceableHeader(LittleEndianInputStream leis) throws IOException, RecordFormatException {
         /*
          * HWmf (2 bytes):  The resource handle to the metafile, when the metafile is in memory. When
          * the metafile is on disk, this field MUST contain 0x0000. This attribute of the metafile is
@@ -54,7 +55,10 @@ protected HwmfPlaceableHeader(LittleEndianInputStream leis) throws IOException {
          * Thus, a value of 720 specifies that the image SHOULD be rendered at twice its normal size,
          * and a value of 2880 specifies that the image SHOULD be rendered at half its normal size.
          */
-        unitsPerInch = leis.readShort();
+        unitsPerInch = leis.readUShort();
+        if (unitsPerInch == 0) {
+            throw new RecordFormatException("Invalid WMF placeable header unitsPerInch: " + unitsPerInch);
+        }
         
         /*
          * Reserved (4 bytes):  A field that is not used and MUST be set to 0x00000000.
diff --git a/poi-scratchpad/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/TestHwmfParsing.java b/poi-scratchpad/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/TestHwmfParsing.java
index 3b31174db3b..4a145d8479f 100644
--- a/poi-scratchpad/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/TestHwmfParsing.java
+++ b/poi-scratchpad/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hwmf/TestHwmfParsing.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 import static org.apache.poi.POITestCase.assertContains;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertInstanceOf;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
@@ -27,16 +28,21 @@ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.poi.POIDataSamples;
+import org.apache.poi.hwmf.draw.HwmfImageRenderer;
 import org.apache.poi.hwmf.record.HwmfFont;
+import org.apache.poi.hwmf.record.HwmfPlaceableHeader;
 import org.apache.poi.hwmf.record.HwmfRecord;
 import org.apache.poi.hwmf.record.HwmfRecordType;
 import org.apache.poi.hwmf.record.HwmfText;
 import org.apache.poi.hwmf.usermodel.HwmfPicture;
+import org.apache.poi.sl.usermodel.PictureData;
 import org.apache.poi.util.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.poi.util.LocaleUtil;
 import org.apache.poi.util.RecordFormatException;
@@ -166,4 +172,60 @@ void testLengths() {
         long cnt = rebuilt.codePoints().count();
         assertEquals(4, cnt);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void testRejectsZeroUnitsPerInchAtParserBoundary() {
+        byte[] malicious = createMinimalPlaceableWmf(0, 0, 0, 32767, 32767);
+        RecordFormatException ex = assertThrows(
+            RecordFormatException.class,
+            () -> new HwmfPicture(new ByteArrayInputStream(malicious))
+        );
+        assertContains(ex.getMessage(), "unitsPerInch");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testValidUnitsProduceFiniteDimensions() throws IOException {
+        byte[] benign = createMinimalPlaceableWmf(1440, 0, 0, 100, 100);
+        HwmfImageRenderer renderer = new HwmfImageRenderer();
+        renderer.loadImage(benign, PictureData.PictureType.WMF.contentType);
+
+        assertTrue(Double.isFinite(renderer.getDimension().getWidth()));
+        assertTrue(Double.isFinite(renderer.getDimension().getHeight()));
+        assertTrue(renderer.getDimension().getWidth() > 0);
+        assertTrue(renderer.getDimension().getHeight() > 0);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a minimal placeable WMF stream: placeable header + WMF header + EOF record.
+     * The payload is intentionally small because these tests target parser validation, not WMF drawing semantics.
+     */
+    private static byte[] createMinimalPlaceableWmf(int unitsPerInch, int x1, int y1, int x2, int y2) {
+        ByteBuffer bb = ByteBuffer.allocate(46).order(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);
+
+        // Placeable header
+        bb.putInt(HwmfPlaceableHeader.WMF_HEADER_MAGIC);
+        bb.putShort((short) 0); // hwmf handle
+        bb.putShort((short) x1);
+        bb.putShort((short) y1);
+        bb.putShort((short) x2);
+        bb.putShort((short) y2);
+        bb.putShort((short) unitsPerInch);
+        bb.putInt(0); // reserved
+        bb.putShort((short) 0); // checksum
+
+        // WMF header (9 words)
+        bb.putShort((short) 1); // memory metafile
+        bb.putShort((short) 9); // header size in WORDs
+        bb.putShort((short) 0x0300); // version
+        bb.putInt(0); // file size in WORDs (unused by parser)
+        bb.putShort((short) 0); // number of objects
+        bb.putInt(0); // max record size
+        bb.putShort((short) 0); // number of members
+
+        // EOF record
+        bb.putInt(3); // record size in WORDs
+        bb.putShort((short) HwmfRecordType.eof.id);
+
+        return bb.array();
+    }
 }