diff --git a/__tests__/batch-lint.spec.ts b/__tests__/batch-lint.spec.ts
index 968394f..6d3ab1a 100644
--- a/__tests__/batch-lint.spec.ts
+++ b/__tests__/batch-lint.spec.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { availableParallelism, tmpdir } from 'os';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import { Piscina } from 'piscina';
 import type { LintMdRulesConfig } from '@lint-md/core';
-import { batchLint, getMaxFileSize, resolveAdaptiveConcurrency, runTasksWithLimit } from '../src/utils/batch-lint';
+import { STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT, batchLint, getMaxFileSize, resolveAdaptiveConcurrency, runTasksWithLimit } from '../src/utils/batch-lint';
 
 const RULES_NO_EMPTY_LIST: LintMdRulesConfig = {
   'no-empty-list': 2,
@@ -214,6 +214,41 @@ describe('getMaxFileSize', () => {
     const missing = path.join(tmpDir, 'missing.md');
     await expect(getMaxFileSize([missing])).rejects.toThrow();
   });
+
+  test('bounds concurrent stat calls to STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT', async () => {
+    const fileCount = STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT * 3;
+    const filePaths = Array.from({ length: fileCount }, (_, index) =>
+      path.join(tmpDir, `bounded-${index}.md`)
+    );
+    const sizeMap = new Map(filePaths.map((filePath, index) => [filePath, index + 1]));
+
+    let inFlight = 0;
+    let maxInFlight = 0;
+
+    const fsPromises = require('fs/promises');
+    const statSpy = jest.spyOn(fsPromises, 'stat').mockImplementation((filePath: string) => {
+      inFlight++;
+      maxInFlight = Math.max(maxInFlight, inFlight);
+      return new Promise((resolve) => {
+        setTimeout(() => {
+          inFlight--;
+          resolve({ size: sizeMap.get(filePath) ?? 0 });
+        }, 20);
+      });
+    });
+
+    try {
+      const result = await getMaxFileSize(filePaths);
+
+      expect(result).toBe(fileCount);
+      expect(statSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(fileCount);
+      expect(maxInFlight).toBeGreaterThan(1);
+      expect(maxInFlight).toBeLessThanOrEqual(STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT);
+    }
+    finally {
+      statSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 describe('resolveAdaptiveConcurrency', () => {
diff --git a/src/utils/batch-lint.ts b/src/utils/batch-lint.ts
index e39137f..88fbd43 100644
--- a/src/utils/batch-lint.ts
+++ b/src/utils/batch-lint.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ const FIVE_MIB = 5 * ONE_MIB;
 const ADAPTIVE_MEDIUM_CAP = 2;
 const ADAPTIVE_LARGE_FILE_THRESHOLD = ONE_MIB;
 const ADAPTIVE_HUGE_FILE_THRESHOLD = FIVE_MIB;
+// Upper bound on concurrent stat() fds in getMaxFileSize (see #80).
+export const STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT = 128;
 
 export async function runTasksWithLimit<T>(
   tasks: (() => Promise<T>)[],
@@ -39,15 +41,23 @@ const resolveWorkerFilename = (): string => {
   return path.resolve(__dirname, '../../lib/src/utils/lint-worker.js');
 };
 
-// TODO(perf, #78): getMaxFileSize() currently stats every file with one
-// Promise.all. For very large repositories, consider chunking stat calls
-// or short-circuiting once a file >= ADAPTIVE_HUGE_FILE_THRESHOLD is found.
+// getMaxFileSize() stats every file but bounds the in-flight stat calls to
+// STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT via runTasksWithLimit, avoiding an N-fd filesystem
+// burst on very large repositories (see #80).
+// We bound concurrency rather than short-circuit on a >= 5 MiB file: this
+// function must return the TRUE maximum size, because src/lint-md.ts logs
+// `max file ${maxMiB} MiB` under --threads auto --dev. An early return would
+// make that log (and any future consumer) inaccurate. STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT
+// is an empirical cap (the issue suggests 64/128), not benchmark-derived.
 export const getMaxFileSize = async (filePaths: string[]): Promise<number> => {
   if (filePaths.length === 0) {
     return 0;
   }
-  const stats = await Promise.all(filePaths.map(filePath => stat(filePath)));
-  return stats.reduce((max, current) => (current.size > max ? current.size : max), 0);
+  const sizes = await runTasksWithLimit(
+    filePaths.map(filePath => () => stat(filePath).then(stats => stats.size)),
+    STAT_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT
+  );
+  return sizes.reduce((max, current) => (current > max ? current : max), 0);
 };
 
 export const resolveAdaptiveConcurrency = async (