diff --git a/src/corelib/text/qstring.cpp b/src/corelib/text/qstring.cpp
index aa07223860f..f53d36d70ed 100644
--- a/src/corelib/text/qstring.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/text/qstring.cpp
@@ -8855,7 +8855,7 @@ static inline char16_t to_unicode(const QChar c) { return c.unicode(); }
 static inline char16_t to_unicode(const char c) { return QLatin1Char{c}.unicode(); }
 
 template <typename Char>
-static int getEscape(const Char *uc, qsizetype *pos, qsizetype len, int maxNumber = 999)
+static int getEscape(const Char *uc, qsizetype *pos, qsizetype len)
 {
     qsizetype i = *pos;
     ++i;
@@ -8866,17 +8866,16 @@ static int getEscape(const Char *uc, qsizetype *pos, qsizetype len, int maxNumbe
         if (uint(escape) >= 10U)
             return -1;
         ++i;
-        while (i < len) {
+        if (i < len) {
+            // there's a second digit
             int digit = to_unicode(uc[i]) - '0';
-            if (uint(digit) >= 10U)
-                break;
-            escape = (escape * 10) + digit;
-            ++i;
-        }
-        if (escape <= maxNumber) {
-            *pos = i;
-            return escape;
+            if (uint(digit) < 10U) {
+                escape = (escape * 10) + digit;
+                ++i;
+            }
         }
+        *pos = i;
+        return escape;
     }
     return -1;
 }
diff --git a/tests/auto/corelib/text/qstring/tst_qstring.cpp b/tests/auto/corelib/text/qstring/tst_qstring.cpp
index 51159b51fb1..d3e1d6da997 100644
--- a/tests/auto/corelib/text/qstring/tst_qstring.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/corelib/text/qstring/tst_qstring.cpp
@@ -6716,9 +6716,15 @@ void tst_QString::arg()
     str = str.arg(u"ahoy"_s, u"there"_s);
     QCOMPARE(str, "one 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 foo ahoy there bar"_L1);
 
-    QString str2(u"%123 %234 %345 %456 %567 %999 %1000 %1230"_s);
-    str2 = str2.arg(u"A"_s, u"B"_s, u"C"_s, u"D"_s, u"E"_s, u"F"_s);
-    QCOMPARE(str2, QLatin1String("A B C D E F %1000 %1230"));
+    // Make sure the single- and multi-arg expand the same sequences: at most
+    // two digits. The sequence below has four replacements: %01, %10 (twice),
+    // %11, and %12.
+    QString str2 = u"%100 %101 %110 %12 %0100"_s;
+    QLatin1StringView str2expected = "B0 B1 C0 D A00"_L1;
+    QCOMPARE(str2.arg(QChar(u'A')).arg(QChar(u'B')).arg(QChar(u'C')).arg(QChar(u'D')), str2expected);
+    QCOMPARE(str2.arg(QChar(u'A'), QChar(u'B')).arg(QChar(u'C')).arg(QChar(u'D')), str2expected);
+    QCOMPARE(str2.arg(QChar(u'A'), QChar(u'B'), QChar(u'C')).arg(QChar(u'D')), str2expected);
+    QCOMPARE(str2.arg(QChar(u'A'), QChar(u'B'), QChar(u'C'), QChar(u'D')), str2expected);
 
     QCOMPARE(u"%1"_s.arg(-1, 3, 10, QChar(u'0')), "-01"_L1);
     QCOMPARE(u"%1"_s.arg(-100, 3, 10, QChar(u'0')), "-100"_L1);