diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/gascalculator/OsakaGasCalculator.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/gascalculator/OsakaGasCalculator.java
index daa6a1f5d4e..56363da134a 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/gascalculator/OsakaGasCalculator.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/gascalculator/OsakaGasCalculator.java
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ public long modExpGasCost(final Bytes input) {
         clampedAdd(BigIntegerModularExponentiationPrecompiledContract.BASE_OFFSET, baseLength);
 
     final long maxLength = Math.max(modulusLength, baseLength);
+    if (maxLength <= 0) {
+      return 500L;
+    }
     long multiplicationComplexity = 16;
     long words = (maxLength + 7L) / 8L;
     words = Words.clampedMultiply(words, words);