--- a/src/Mesh.h
+++ b/src/Mesh.h
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@
 class Mesh : public Dispatcher {
   RTCClock* _rtc;
   RNG* _rng;
   MeshTables* _tables;
 
+  // TRACE forwarding rate limiter (Bug #6 fix)
+  static const int TRACE_RATE_LIMIT = 4;           // max forwards per window
+  static const unsigned long TRACE_RATE_WINDOW_MS = 10000;  // 10-second window
+  int _trace_fwd_count = 0;
+  unsigned long _trace_window_start = 0;
+
   void removeSelfFromPath(Packet* packet);
   void routeDirectRecvAcks(Packet* packet, uint32_t delay_millis);
--- a/src/Mesh.cpp
+++ b/src/Mesh.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,18 @@
   if (pkt->isRouteDirect() && pkt->getPayloadType() == PAYLOAD_TYPE_TRACE) {
     if (pkt->path_len < MAX_PATH_SIZE) {
+      // Rate-limit TRACE forwarding to prevent flood DoS (Bug #6)
+      unsigned long now = _ms->getMillis();
+      if (now - _trace_window_start > TRACE_RATE_WINDOW_MS) {
+        // Start a new rate-limit window
+        _trace_window_start = now;
+        _trace_fwd_count = 0;
+      }
+      if (_trace_fwd_count >= TRACE_RATE_LIMIT) {
+        // Rate limit exceeded — drop this TRACE silently
+        return ACTION_RELEASE;
+      }
+
       uint8_t i = 0;
       uint32_t trace_tag;
       memcpy(&trace_tag, &pkt->payload[i], 4); i += 4;
@@ -56,6 +68,7 @@
       } else if (self_id.isHashMatch(&pkt->payload[i + offset], 1 << path_sz) && allowPacketForward(pkt) && !_tables->hasSeen(pkt)) {
         // append SNR (Not hash!)
         pkt->path[pkt->path_len++] = (int8_t) (pkt->getSNR()*4);
+        _trace_fwd_count++;   // count this forward against rate limit
 
         uint32_t d = getDirectRetransmitDelay(pkt);
         return ACTION_RETRANSMIT_DELAYED(5, d);  // schedule with priority 5 (for now), maybe make configurable?