diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index fbf19b6172..0b2132dc04 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+5.1.0-dev.202 | 2022-07-08 09:55:35 -0700
+
+  * Avoid calling safe_realloc unnecessarily from ODesc::Grow() (Tim Wojtulewicz, Corelight)
+
 5.1.0-dev.200 | 2022-07-08 09:29:04 +0200
 
   * GH-913: zeek-setup: Validate plugin debug streams during startup.
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 265bef5957..13c63ade24 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-5.1.0-dev.200
+5.1.0-dev.202
diff --git a/src/Desc.cc b/src/Desc.cc
index e6e41f5f6f..ba5849c226 100644
--- a/src/Desc.cc
+++ b/src/Desc.cc
@@ -373,10 +373,15 @@ void ODesc::AddBytesRaw(const void* bytes, unsigned int n)
 
 void ODesc::Grow(unsigned int n)
 	{
+	bool size_changed = false;
 	while ( offset + n + SLOP >= size )
+		{
 		size *= 2;
+		size_changed = true;
+		}
 
-	base = util::safe_realloc(base, size);
+	if ( size_changed )
+		base = util::safe_realloc(base, size);
 	}
 
 void ODesc::Clear()