diff --git a/.changelog/5647.fixed b/.changelog/5647.fixed
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2e44244b339
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/5647.fixed
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+`opentelemetry-api`: Added guard for negative value on max_value_len
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
index 2ba2d393200..6bc3590f0f1 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
@@ -146,6 +146,8 @@ def __init__(
     ) -> None:
         if maxlen is not None and maxlen < 0:
             raise ValueError("maxlen must be valid int greater or equal to 0")
+        if max_value_len is not None and max_value_len < 0:
+            raise ValueError("max_value_len must be valid int greater or equal to 0")
         self._dict: dict[str, types.AnyValue] = {}
         self.maxlen = maxlen
         self.dropped = 0
diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py b/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
index 29e9826481d..2d9c8cb9c29 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ def test_negative_maxlen_not_allowed(self):
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
             BoundedAttributes(-1)
 
+    def test_negative_max_value_len_not_allowed(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            BoundedAttributes(1, {"first": "value"}, immutable=False, max_value_len=-1)
+
     def test_base_copy_isolated_and_len_works(self):
         dic_len = len(self.base)
         base_copy = self.base.copy()