diff --git a/src/fns.c b/src/fns.c
index c3202495da..267bd2c40f 100644
--- a/src/fns.c
+++ b/src/fns.c
@@ -1557,9 +1557,18 @@ The value is actually the tail of LIST whose car is ELT.  */)
   (Lisp_Object elt, Lisp_Object list)
 {
   Lisp_Object tail = list;
+  for (int i = 0; i < SMALL_LIST_LEN_MAX; ++i, tail = XCDR (tail))
+    {
+      if (!CONSP (tail))
+        goto end;
+      else if (EQ (XCAR (tail), elt))
+        return tail;
+    }
+
   FOR_EACH_TAIL (tail)
     if (EQ (XCAR (tail), elt))
       return tail;
+ end:
   CHECK_LIST_END (tail, list);
   return Qnil;
 }