diff --git a/scan_engine.cc b/scan_engine.cc
index 45d782f6a..0a52c1f50 100644
--- a/scan_engine.cc
+++ b/scan_engine.cc
@@ -2038,6 +2038,10 @@ int determineScanGroupSize(int hosts_scanned_so_far,
 
   groupsize = box(o.minHostGroupSz(), o.maxHostGroupSz(), groupsize);
 
+  if (o.max_ips_to_scan && (o.max_ips_to_scan - hosts_scanned_so_far) < groupsize)
+    // don't scan more randomly generated hosts than was specified
+    groupsize = o.max_ips_to_scan - hosts_scanned_so_far;
+
   return groupsize;
 }