diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 8db021591..25f52c804 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 mbed TLS ChangeLog (Sorted per branch, date)
 
+= mbed TLS 2.x.x branch released xxxx-xx-xx
+
+Changes
+   * Optimize unnecessary zeroing in mbedtls_mpi_copy. Based on a contribution
+     by Alexey Skalozub.
+
 = mbed TLS 2.7.0 branch released 2018-02-03
 
 Security
diff --git a/library/bignum.c b/library/bignum.c
index d27c130bc..e57e6af17 100644
--- a/library/bignum.c
+++ b/library/bignum.c
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ int mbedtls_mpi_shrink( mbedtls_mpi *X, size_t nblimbs )
  */
 int mbedtls_mpi_copy( mbedtls_mpi *X, const mbedtls_mpi *Y )
 {
-    int ret;
+    int ret = 0;
     size_t i;
 
     if( X == Y )
@@ -203,9 +203,15 @@ int mbedtls_mpi_copy( mbedtls_mpi *X, const mbedtls_mpi *Y )
 
     X->s = Y->s;
 
-    MBEDTLS_MPI_CHK( mbedtls_mpi_grow( X, i ) );
+    if( X->n < i )
+    {
+        MBEDTLS_MPI_CHK( mbedtls_mpi_grow( X, i ) );
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        memset( X->p + i, 0, ( X->n - i ) * ciL );
+    }
 
-    memset( X->p, 0, X->n * ciL );
     memcpy( X->p, Y->p, i * ciL );
 
 cleanup: