diff --git a/t/t3070-wildmatch.sh b/t/t3070-wildmatch.sh
index 5d871fde96..b91a7cb712 100755
--- a/t/t3070-wildmatch.sh
+++ b/t/t3070-wildmatch.sh
@@ -431,4 +431,13 @@ match 1 1 1 1 'a' '[B-a]'
 match 0 1 0 1 'z' '[Z-y]'
 match 1 1 1 1 'Z' '[Z-y]'
 
+test_expect_success 'matching does not exhibit exponential behavior' '
+	test-tool wildmatch wildmatch \
+		aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaab \
+		"*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a" &
+	pid=$! &&
+	sleep 2 &&
+	! kill $!
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/wildmatch.c b/wildmatch.c
index 7e5a7ea1ea..06861bd8bc 100644
--- a/wildmatch.c
+++ b/wildmatch.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ static int dowild(const uchar *p, const uchar *text, unsigned int flags)
 				 * only if there are no more slash characters. */
 				if (!match_slash) {
 					if (strchr((char *)text, '/'))
-						return WM_NOMATCH;
+						return WM_ABORT_TO_STARSTAR;
 				}
 				return WM_MATCH;
 			} else if (!match_slash && *p == '/') {
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ static int dowild(const uchar *p, const uchar *text, unsigned int flags)
 				 */
 				const char *slash = strchr((char*)text, '/');
 				if (!slash)
-					return WM_NOMATCH;
+					return WM_ABORT_ALL;
 				text = (const uchar*)slash;
 				/* the slash is consumed by the top-level for loop */
 				break;
@@ -153,8 +153,12 @@ static int dowild(const uchar *p, const uchar *text, unsigned int flags)
 							break;
 						text++;
 					}
-					if (t_ch != p_ch)
-						return WM_NOMATCH;
+					if (t_ch != p_ch) {
+						if (match_slash)
+							return WM_ABORT_ALL;
+						else
+							return WM_ABORT_TO_STARSTAR;
+					}
 				}
 				if ((matched = dowild(p, text, flags)) != WM_NOMATCH) {
 					if (!match_slash || matched != WM_ABORT_TO_STARSTAR)