And even more...

lib/Epub/Epub/parsers/ContentOpfParser.cpp

@@ -260,9 +260,10 @@ void XMLCALL ContentOpfParser::startElement(void* userData, const XML_Char* name
       if (strcmp(metaName, "cover") == 0) {
         self->coverItemId = metaContent;
       } else if (strcmp(metaName, "calibre:series") == 0 && self->series.empty()) {
-        self->series = trim(std::string(metaContent)).substr(0, MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH);
+        self->series = trim(std::string(metaContent, std::min(strlen(metaContent), size_t{MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH})));
       } else if (strcmp(metaName, "calibre:series_index") == 0 && self->seriesIndex.empty()) {
-        self->seriesIndex = trim(std::string(metaContent)).substr(0, MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH);
+        self->seriesIndex =
+            trim(std::string(metaContent, std::min(strlen(metaContent), size_t{MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH})));
       }
     }
 
@@ -273,7 +274,7 @@ void XMLCALL ContentOpfParser::startElement(void* userData, const XML_Char* name
     if (metaProperty) {
       if (strcmp(metaProperty, "belongs-to-collection") == 0 && self->series.empty()) {
         if (metaContent) {
-          self->series = trim(std::string(metaContent)).substr(0, MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH);
+          self->series = trim(std::string(metaContent, std::min(strlen(metaContent), size_t{MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH})));
         } else {
           self->state = IN_BOOK_SERIES;
           return;
@@ -281,7 +282,8 @@ void XMLCALL ContentOpfParser::startElement(void* userData, const XML_Char* name
       }
       if (strcmp(metaProperty, "group-position") == 0 && self->seriesIndex.empty()) {
         if (metaContent) {
-          self->seriesIndex = trim(std::string(metaContent)).substr(0, MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH);
+          self->seriesIndex =
+              trim(std::string(metaContent, std::min(strlen(metaContent), size_t{MAX_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH})));
         } else {
           self->state = IN_BOOK_SERIES_INDEX;
           return;

src/RecentBooksStore.cpp

@@ -134,19 +134,26 @@ bool RecentBooksStore::loadFromBinaryFile() {
 
       // load book to get missing data
       RecentBook book = getDataFromBook(path);
-      if (book.title.empty() && book.author.empty() && version == 2) {
+      if (version == 2) {
-        // Fall back to loading what we can from the store
+        // v2 always stores title and author after path; consume them regardless
-        std::string title, author;
+        // of whether live metadata was found, to keep the stream aligned.
-        if (!serialization::readString(inputFile, title) || !serialization::readString(inputFile, author)) {
+        std::string storedTitle, storedAuthor;
+        if (!serialization::readString(inputFile, storedTitle) || !serialization::readString(inputFile, storedAuthor)) {
           LOG_ERR("RBS", "Corrupt recent.bin: string too long at entry %u", i);
           inputFile.close();
           return false;
         }
+        // Prefer live metadata; fall back to stored when live is unavailable.
+        const std::string& title = !book.title.empty() ? book.title : storedTitle;
+        const std::string& author = !book.title.empty() ? book.author : storedAuthor;
         if (!title.empty()) {
           tmpRecentBooks.push_back({path, title, author, "", ""});
         }
-      } else if (!book.title.empty()) {
+      } else {
-        tmpRecentBooks.push_back(book);
+        // v1: no stored title/author bytes
+        if (!book.title.empty()) {
+          tmpRecentBooks.push_back(book);
+        }
       }
     }
     recentBooks = std::move(tmpRecentBooks);