diff --git a/include/mpsp.h b/include/mpsp.h
index 86f04bf45..797f63d09 100644
--- a/include/mpsp.h
+++ b/include/mpsp.h
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 #define INCR_MASKS    1000
 
-u32   mp_get_length (char *mask);
+u32   mp_get_length (const char *mask);
 
 void  sp_exec (u64 ctx, char *pw_buf, cs_t *root_css_buf, cs_t *markov_css_buf, u32 start, u32 stop);
 
diff --git a/src/interface.c b/src/interface.c
index 56dc6441d..2be467720 100644
--- a/src/interface.c
+++ b/src/interface.c
@@ -19890,6 +19890,11 @@ int hashconfig_init (hashcat_ctx_t *hashcat_ctx)
 
   hashconfig->pw_max = PW_MAX;
 
+  if (hashconfig->opts_type & OPTS_TYPE_PT_UNICODE)
+  {
+    hashconfig->pw_max = PW_MAX / 2;
+  }
+
   switch (hashconfig->hash_mode)
   {
     case   125: hashconfig->pw_max = 32;
diff --git a/src/mpsp.c b/src/mpsp.c
index 2ccbbe4a4..29ce772c7 100644
--- a/src/mpsp.c
+++ b/src/mpsp.c
@@ -910,11 +910,24 @@ static int mask_append_final (hashcat_ctx_t *hashcat_ctx, const char *mask)
 
 static int mask_append (hashcat_ctx_t *hashcat_ctx, const char *mask)
 {
+  hashconfig_t   *hashconfig   = hashcat_ctx->hashconfig;
   user_options_t *user_options = hashcat_ctx->user_options;
 
   if (user_options->increment == true)
   {
-    for (u32 increment_len = user_options->increment_min; increment_len <= user_options->increment_max; increment_len++)
+    const u32 mask_length = mp_get_length (mask);
+
+    const u32 pw_min = hashconfig->pw_min;
+    const u32 pw_max = hashconfig->pw_max;
+
+    u32 increment_min = user_options->increment_min;
+    u32 increment_max = user_options->increment_max;
+
+    increment_min = MAX (increment_min, pw_min);
+    increment_max = MIN (increment_max, pw_max);
+    increment_max = MIN (increment_max, mask_length);
+
+    for (u32 increment_len = increment_min; increment_len <= increment_max; increment_len++)
     {
       char *mask_truncated = (char *) hcmalloc (hashcat_ctx, 256); VERIFY_PTR (mask_truncated);
 
@@ -937,7 +950,7 @@ static int mask_append (hashcat_ctx_t *hashcat_ctx, const char *mask)
   return 0;
 }
 
-u32 mp_get_length (char *mask)
+u32 mp_get_length (const char *mask)
 {
   u32 len = 0;