diff --git a/ext/phar/phar.c b/ext/phar/phar.c
index af540a520cc..2403d77aae9 100644
--- a/ext/phar/phar.c
+++ b/ext/phar/phar.c
@@ -1635,7 +1635,7 @@ static int phar_open_from_fp(php_stream* fp, char *fname, size_t fname_len, char
 	const char zip_magic[] = "PK\x03\x04";
 	const char gz_magic[] = "\x1f\x8b\x08";
 	const char bz_magic[] = "BZh";
-	char *pos;
+	char *pos, test = '\0';
 	int recursion_count = 3; // arbitrary limit to avoid too deep or even infinite recursion
 	const int window_size = 1024;
 	char buffer[1024 + sizeof(token)]; /* a 1024 byte window + the size of the halt_compiler token (moving window) */
@@ -1664,7 +1664,8 @@ static int phar_open_from_fp(php_stream* fp, char *fname, size_t fname_len, char
 			MAPPHAR_ALLOC_FAIL("internal corruption of phar \"%s\" (truncated entry)")
 		}
 
-		if (recursion_count) {
+		if (!test && recursion_count) {
+			test = '\1';
 			pos = buffer+tokenlen;
 			if (!memcmp(pos, gz_magic, 3)) {
 				char err = 0;
@@ -1724,6 +1725,7 @@ static int phar_open_from_fp(php_stream* fp, char *fname, size_t fname_len, char
 				compression = PHAR_FILE_COMPRESSED_GZ;
 
 				/* now, start over */
+				test = '\0';
 				if (!--recursion_count) {
 					MAPPHAR_ALLOC_FAIL("unable to decompress gzipped phar archive \"%s\"");
 					break;
@@ -1765,6 +1767,7 @@ static int phar_open_from_fp(php_stream* fp, char *fname, size_t fname_len, char
 				compression = PHAR_FILE_COMPRESSED_BZ2;
 
 				/* now, start over */
+				test = '\0';
 				if (!--recursion_count) {
 					MAPPHAR_ALLOC_FAIL("unable to decompress bzipped phar archive \"%s\"");
 					break;