diff --git a/exec.c b/exec.c
index 8e0c400de8463c67e55877254abaa3909116cb70..ff3cb3e25b8264d8934ac0661d28b06b13ccbbb6 100644
--- a/exec.c
+++ b/exec.c
@@ -227,8 +227,7 @@ static void phys_map_node_reserve(PhysPageMap *map, unsigned nodes)
 {
     static unsigned alloc_hint = 16;
     if (map->nodes_nb + nodes > map->nodes_nb_alloc) {
-        map->nodes_nb_alloc = MAX(map->nodes_nb_alloc, alloc_hint);
-        map->nodes_nb_alloc = MAX(map->nodes_nb_alloc, map->nodes_nb + nodes);
+        map->nodes_nb_alloc = MAX(alloc_hint, map->nodes_nb + nodes);
         map->nodes = g_renew(Node, map->nodes, map->nodes_nb_alloc);
         alloc_hint = map->nodes_nb_alloc;
     }