diff --git a/class.c b/class.c
index 6bf17aaa47..a11285fc97 100644
--- a/class.c
+++ b/class.c
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ rb_class_foreach_subclass(VALUE klass, void (*f)(VALUE, VALUE), VALUE arg)
     while (cur) {
 	VALUE curklass = cur->klass;
 	cur = cur->next;
+        // do not trigger GC during f, otherwise the cur will become
+        // a dangling pointer if the subclass is collected
 	f(curklass, arg);
     }
 }
@@ -1334,13 +1336,24 @@ rb_mod_ancestors(VALUE mod)
     return ary;
 }
 
-static void
-class_descendants_recursive(VALUE klass, VALUE ary)
+struct subclass_traverse_data
 {
+    VALUE *buffer;
+    long count;
+};
+
+static void
+class_descendants_recursive(VALUE klass, VALUE v)
+{
+    struct subclass_traverse_data *data = (struct subclass_traverse_data *) v;
+
     if (BUILTIN_TYPE(klass) == T_CLASS && !FL_TEST(klass, FL_SINGLETON)) {
-        rb_ary_push(ary, klass);
+        if (data->buffer) {
+            data->buffer[data->count] = klass;
+        }
+        data->count++;
     }
-    rb_class_foreach_subclass(klass, class_descendants_recursive, ary);
+    rb_class_foreach_subclass(klass, class_descendants_recursive, v);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -1364,9 +1377,19 @@ class_descendants_recursive(VALUE klass, VALUE ary)
 VALUE
 rb_class_descendants(VALUE klass)
 {
-    VALUE ary = rb_ary_new();
-    rb_class_foreach_subclass(klass, class_descendants_recursive, ary);
-    return ary;
+    struct subclass_traverse_data data = { NULL, 0 };
+
+    // estimate the count of subclasses
+    rb_class_foreach_subclass(klass, class_descendants_recursive, (VALUE) &data);
+
+    // this allocation may cause GC which may reduce the subclasses
+    data.buffer = ALLOCA_N(VALUE, data.count);
+    data.count = 0;
+
+    // enumerate subclasses
+    rb_class_foreach_subclass(klass, class_descendants_recursive, (VALUE) &data);
+
+    return rb_ary_new_from_values(data.count, data.buffer);
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/test/ruby/test_class.rb b/test/ruby/test_class.rb
index 96bca08601..034f4c6d20 100644
--- a/test/ruby/test_class.rb
+++ b/test/ruby/test_class.rb
@@ -755,4 +755,10 @@ class TestClass < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_include(object_descendants, sc)
     assert_include(object_descendants, ssc)
   end
+
+  def test_descendants_gc
+    c = Class.new
+    100000.times { Class.new(c) }
+    assert(c.descendants.size <= 100000)
+  end
 end