diff --git a/src/widgets/itemviews/qheaderview.cpp b/src/widgets/itemviews/qheaderview.cpp
index f6880f2c372..a97cc9827b3 100644
--- a/src/widgets/itemviews/qheaderview.cpp
+++ b/src/widgets/itemviews/qheaderview.cpp
@@ -1885,8 +1885,9 @@ void QHeaderView::sectionsInserted(const QModelIndex &parent,
                                    int logicalFirst, int logicalLast)
 {
     Q_D(QHeaderView);
-    if (parent != d->root)
-        return; // we only handle changes in the root level
+    // only handle root level changes and return on no-op
+    if (parent != d->root || d->modelSectionCount() == d->sectionCount())
+        return;
     int oldCount = d->sectionCount();
 
     d->invalidateCachedSizeHint();
diff --git a/tests/auto/widgets/itemviews/qtableview/tst_qtableview.cpp b/tests/auto/widgets/itemviews/qtableview/tst_qtableview.cpp
index 7329cd054a5..2e59ac2990d 100644
--- a/tests/auto/widgets/itemviews/qtableview/tst_qtableview.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/widgets/itemviews/qtableview/tst_qtableview.cpp
@@ -52,6 +52,13 @@ public:
         : QAbstractTableModel(parent), row_count(rows), column_count(columns)
     {}
 
+    void insertRows(int rows)
+    {
+        beginInsertRows(QModelIndex(), row_count, row_count + rows - 1);
+        row_count += rows;
+        endInsertRows();
+    }
+
     int rowCount(const QModelIndex& = QModelIndex()) const override
     {
         return row_count;
@@ -429,6 +436,7 @@ private slots:
     void viewOptions();
 
     void taskQTBUG_7232_AllowUserToControlSingleStep();
+    void rowsInVerticalHeader();
 
 #if QT_CONFIG(textmarkdownwriter)
     void markdownWriter();
@@ -4929,5 +4937,18 @@ void tst_QTableView::markdownWriter()
 }
 #endif
 
+void tst_QTableView::rowsInVerticalHeader()
+{
+    QtTestTableModel model(0, 2);
+    QTableView view;
+    view.setModel(&model);
+    view.show();
+    QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowExposed(&view));
+    auto *verticalHeader = view.verticalHeader();
+    QCOMPARE(verticalHeader->count(), 0);
+    model.insertRows(2);
+    QCOMPARE(verticalHeader->count(), 2);
+}
+
 QTEST_MAIN(tst_QTableView)
 #include "tst_qtableview.moc"