diff --git a/Lib/test/test_re.py b/Lib/test/test_re.py
index c3c70bc4c4f..46f442d257c 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_re.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_re.py
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
 except:
     raise TestFailed, "re.search"
 
+# Try nasty case that overflows the straightforward recursive
+# implementation of repeated groups.
+assert re.match('(x)*', 50000*'x').span() == (0, 50000)
+
 if verbose:
     print 'Running tests on re.sub'