diff --git a/src/listpack.c b/src/listpack.c
index 981069a2e..217fb6c2e 100644
--- a/src/listpack.c
+++ b/src/listpack.c
@@ -373,14 +373,15 @@ static inline unsigned long lpEncodeBacklen(unsigned char *buf, uint64_t l) {
  * 5 bytes are used), UINT64_MAX is returned to report the problem. */
 static inline uint64_t lpDecodeBacklen(unsigned char *p) {
     uint64_t val = 0;
-    for (uint64_t shift = 0; shift <= 28; shift += 7) {
-        val |= (uint64_t)(*p & 127) << shift;
-        if (!(*p & 128)) {
-            return val;
-        }
-        p--;  // Move to the previous byte
-    }
-    return UINT64_MAX;  // Invalid encoding if we exceed 5 bytes
+    uint64_t shift = 0;
+    do {
+        val |= (uint64_t)(p[0] & 127) << shift;
+        if (!(p[0] & 128)) break;
+        shift += 7;
+        p--;
+        if (shift > 28) return UINT64_MAX;
+    } while(1);
+    return val;
 }
 
 /* Encode the string element pointed by 's' of size 'len' in the target