diff --git a/apps/api/src/cora/data/wire.py b/apps/api/src/cora/data/wire.py
index 0c0a0e3b66..019cde5def 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/cora/data/wire.py
+++ b/apps/api/src/cora/data/wire.py
@@ -130,7 +130,10 @@ def _build_checksum_verifiers(deps: Kernel) -> Mapping[str, ChecksumVerifier]:
     verifiers: dict[str, ChecksumVerifier] = {"http": http, "https": http}
     roots = deps.settings.posix_checksum_roots
     if roots:
-        verifiers["file"] = PosixChecksumAdapter(allowed_roots=roots)
+        verifiers["file"] = PosixChecksumAdapter(
+            allowed_roots=roots,
+            max_walk_seconds=deps.settings.posix_checksum_max_walk_seconds,
+        )
     return verifiers
 
 
@@ -320,7 +323,8 @@ def wire_data(deps: Kernel) -> DataHandlers:
                         captured_at_source=deps.settings.scan_captured_at_source,
                     ),
                     checksum_computer=PosixChecksumAdapter(
-                        allowed_roots=deps.settings.posix_checksum_roots
+                        allowed_roots=deps.settings.posix_checksum_roots,
+                        max_walk_seconds=deps.settings.posix_checksum_max_walk_seconds,
                     ),
                     dataset_by_checksum_lookup=_build_dataset_by_checksum_lookup(deps),
                 ),
diff --git a/apps/api/src/cora/infrastructure/config.py b/apps/api/src/cora/infrastructure/config.py
index 32da2dcf89..c62be7d08a 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/cora/infrastructure/config.py
+++ b/apps/api/src/cora/infrastructure/config.py
@@ -510,6 +510,20 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     # See `cora.data.adapters.posix_checksum`.
     posix_checksum_roots: tuple[str, ...] = ()
 
+    # End-to-end budget for one POSIX digest walk, seconds. The bound
+    # exists so a file on a hung mount, or one still growing, cannot
+    # occupy a worker indefinitely; it is not a performance knob.
+    #
+    # The 60 s default suits the small files the adapter was written
+    # against and is far too short for a tomography scan. Measured on
+    # the 2-BM pilot: `sha256sum` alone takes 82 s on a 24.5 GB scan
+    # (77 s of it CPU), and CORA's chunked read is slower still, so the
+    # first real ingest refused with `walk exceeded max_walk_seconds`.
+    # A deployment holding files of that size raises this to something
+    # that bounds a hang without forbidding its own data. Read from
+    # POSIX_CHECKSUM_MAX_WALK_SECONDS.
+    posix_checksum_max_walk_seconds: float = 60.0
+
     # Data BC -- which of a scan file's timestamps is the acquisition
     # time. `start_date` (the default) preserves the behaviour every
     # deployment had before this setting existed.
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/unit/data/test_checksum_verifier_wiring.py b/apps/api/tests/unit/data/test_checksum_verifier_wiring.py
index bba7a83294..9aa2e946c5 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/unit/data/test_checksum_verifier_wiring.py
+++ b/apps/api/tests/unit/data/test_checksum_verifier_wiring.py
@@ -21,9 +21,20 @@
 _ID = UUID("01900000-0000-7000-8000-0000000000c0")
 
 
-def _wired_verifiers(roots: tuple[str, ...]) -> dict[str, object]:
+def _wired_verifiers(
+    roots: tuple[str, ...], max_walk_seconds: float | None = None
+) -> dict[str, object]:
     deps = build_deps(ids=[_ID], now=_NOW)
-    deps = replace(deps, settings=Settings(app_env="test", posix_checksum_roots=roots))
+    settings = (
+        Settings(app_env="test", posix_checksum_roots=roots)
+        if max_walk_seconds is None
+        else Settings(
+            app_env="test",
+            posix_checksum_roots=roots,
+            posix_checksum_max_walk_seconds=max_walk_seconds,
+        )
+    )
+    deps = replace(deps, settings=settings)
     wire_data(deps)  # attaches deps.data.checksum_verifiers
     return dict(deps.data.checksum_verifiers)  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
 
@@ -46,3 +57,28 @@ def test_file_scheme_absent_when_no_roots_configured() -> None:
 def test_file_scheme_wired_to_posix_adapter_when_roots_configured() -> None:
     verifiers = _wired_verifiers(("/gpfs/2bm/archive",))
     assert isinstance(verifiers["file"], PosixChecksumAdapter)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.unit
+def test_posix_adapter_takes_the_configured_walk_budget() -> None:
+    """The bound has to be reachable from configuration.
+
+    It was tunable at construction time and nothing passed it, so the
+    60 s default governed every deployment. A 24.5 GB scan takes 82 s to
+    hash on the 2-BM pilot before CORA's own chunked read is counted, so
+    the first real ingest refused with `walk exceeded max_walk_seconds`
+    and no deployment could raise it without editing code.
+    """
+    verifiers = _wired_verifiers(("/gpfs/2bm/archive",), 900.0)
+
+    adapter = verifiers["file"]
+    assert isinstance(adapter, PosixChecksumAdapter)
+    assert adapter._max_walk_seconds == 900.0  # pyright: ignore[reportPrivateUsage]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.unit
+def test_posix_adapter_keeps_the_default_walk_budget_when_unset() -> None:
+    adapter = _wired_verifiers(("/gpfs/2bm/archive",))["file"]
+
+    assert isinstance(adapter, PosixChecksumAdapter)
+    assert adapter._max_walk_seconds == 60.0  # pyright: ignore[reportPrivateUsage]