diff --git a/lib/mpi/mpi-cmp.c b/lib/mpi/mpi-cmp.c
index d25e9e96c310..ceaebe181cd7 100644
--- a/lib/mpi/mpi-cmp.c
+++ b/lib/mpi/mpi-cmp.c
@@ -25,8 +25,12 @@ int mpi_cmp_ui(MPI u, unsigned long v)
 	mpi_limb_t limb = v;
 
 	mpi_normalize(u);
-	if (!u->nlimbs && !limb)
-		return 0;
+	if (u->nlimbs == 0) {
+		if (v == 0)
+			return 0;
+		else
+			return -1;
+	}
 	if (u->sign)
 		return -1;
 	if (u->nlimbs > 1)