diff --git a/libr/core/cconfig.c b/libr/core/cconfig.c
index 83cfd9053d..a7f4e551b7 100644
--- a/libr/core/cconfig.c
+++ b/libr/core/cconfig.c
@@ -3433,6 +3433,7 @@ R_API int r_core_config_init(RCore *core) {
 #endif
 	SETBPREF ("dbg.glibc.demangle", "false", "Demangle linked-lists pointers introduced in glibc 2.32");
 	SETBPREF ("esil.prestep", "true", "Step before esil evaluation in `de` commands");
+	SETI ("esil.maxsteps", 0, "If !=0 defines the maximum amount of steps to perform on aesu/aec/..");
 	SETPREF ("esil.fillstack", "", "Initialize ESIL stack with (random, debrujn, sequence, zeros, ...)");
 	SETICB ("esil.verbose", 0, &cb_esilverbose, "Show ESIL verbose level (0, 1, 2)");
 	SETICB ("esil.gotolimit", core->anal->esil_goto_limit, &cb_gotolimit, "Maximum number of gotos per ESIL expression");
diff --git a/libr/core/cmd_debug.c b/libr/core/cmd_debug.c
index 8ce2951f01..132c07c01f 100644
--- a/libr/core/cmd_debug.c
+++ b/libr/core/cmd_debug.c
@@ -847,10 +847,13 @@ static int step_until_optype(RCore *core, const char *_optypes) {
 	ut8 buf[32];
 	ut64 pc;
 	int res = true;
+	st64 maxsteps = r_config_get_i (core->config, "esil.maxsteps");
+	ut64 countsteps = 0;
 
 	RList *optypes_list = NULL;
 	RListIter *iter;
-	char *optype, *optypes = strdup (r_str_trim_head_ro ((char *) _optypes));
+	char *optype = NULL;
+	char *optypes = strdup (r_str_trim_head_ro ((char *) _optypes));
 
 	if (!core || !core->dbg) {
 		eprintf ("Wrong state\n");
@@ -867,7 +870,7 @@ static int step_until_optype(RCore *core, const char *_optypes) {
 	optypes_list = r_str_split_list (optypes, " ", 0);
 
 	r_cons_break_push (NULL, NULL);
-	for (;;) {
+	for (; !maxsteps || countsteps < maxsteps; countsteps++) {
 		if (r_cons_is_breaked ()) {
 			core->break_loop = true;
 			break;