diff --git a/vulnerabilities/pipelines/enhance_with_exploitdb.py b/vulnerabilities/pipelines/enhance_with_exploitdb.py
index 70f7b4886..038215dc1 100644
--- a/vulnerabilities/pipelines/enhance_with_exploitdb.py
+++ b/vulnerabilities/pipelines/enhance_with_exploitdb.py
@@ -128,13 +128,19 @@ def add_exploit_references(ref_id, direct_url, path, vul_id, logger):
         "direct_url": direct_url,
     }
 
+    MAX_REF_LEN = 200
+    if ref_id and len(ref_id) > MAX_REF_LEN:
+       safe_ref_id = ref_id[:MAX_REF_LEN] + "..."
+    else:
+         safe_ref_id = ref_id
+
     for key, url in url_map.items():
         if url:
             try:
                 ref, created = VulnerabilityReference.objects.update_or_create(
                     url=url,
                     defaults={
-                        "reference_id": ref_id,
+                        "reference_id": safe_ref_id,
                         "reference_type": VulnerabilityReference.EXPLOIT,
                     },
                 )
diff --git a/vulnerabilities/tests/pipelines/test_enhance_with_exploitdb.py b/vulnerabilities/tests/pipelines/test_enhance_with_exploitdb.py
index 1b47591ba..1919b6bc6 100644
--- a/vulnerabilities/tests/pipelines/test_enhance_with_exploitdb.py
+++ b/vulnerabilities/tests/pipelines/test_enhance_with_exploitdb.py
@@ -60,3 +60,29 @@ def test_invalid_exploit_db_improver(mock_get):
     status, _ = improver.execute()
     assert status == 0
     assert Exploit.objects.count() == 0
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+@mock.patch("requests.get")
+def test_reference_id_is_truncated_with_ellipsis(mock_get):
+    mock_response = Mock(status_code=200)
+
+    with open(TEST_DATA, "r") as f:
+        data = f.read()
+
+    # make long exploit id/reference text
+    data = data.replace("CVE-2009-3699", "A" * 300)
+
+    mock_response.text = data
+    mock_get.return_value = mock_response
+
+    v1 = Vulnerability.objects.create(vulnerability_id="VCIO-123-2002")
+    v1.save()
+
+    Alias.objects.create(alias="A" * 300, vulnerability=v1)
+
+    improver = ExploitDBImproverPipeline()
+    improver.execute()
+
+    exploit = Exploit.objects.first()
+    assert exploit is not None
+    assert len(exploit.reference_id) <= 200
+    assert exploit.reference_id.endswith("...")
\ No newline at end of file