diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 573d0b20b7..c702c09dd4 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -4158,7 +4158,8 @@ static struct list_objects_filter_options *po_filter_revs_init(void *value)
 {
 	struct po_filter_data *data = value;
 
-	repo_init_revisions(the_repository, &data->revs, NULL);
+	if (!data->have_revs)
+		repo_init_revisions(the_repository, &data->revs, NULL);
 	data->have_revs = 1;
 
 	return &data->revs.filter;
diff --git a/t/t5317-pack-objects-filter-objects.sh b/t/t5317-pack-objects-filter-objects.sh
index 25faebaada..5b707d911b 100755
--- a/t/t5317-pack-objects-filter-objects.sh
+++ b/t/t5317-pack-objects-filter-objects.sh
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ test_expect_success 'verify normal and blob:limit packfiles have same commits/tr
 	test_cmp expected observed
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'verify small limit and big limit results in small limit' '
+test_expect_success 'verify small limit and big limit results in small limit' '
 	git -C r2 ls-files -s large.1000 >ls_files_result &&
 	test_parse_ls_files_stage_oids <ls_files_result |
 	sort >expected &&