diff --git a/src/V3Ast.cpp b/src/V3Ast.cpp
index a2144f15e..cd2e2246c 100644
--- a/src/V3Ast.cpp
+++ b/src/V3Ast.cpp
@@ -1107,7 +1107,13 @@ void AstNode::v3errorEndFatal(std::ostringstream& str) const {
 string AstNode::locationStr() const {
     string str = "... In instance ";
     const AstNode* backp = this;
+    int itmax = 10000;  // Max iterations before giving up on location search
     while (backp) {
+        if (--itmax < 0) {
+            // Likely some circular back link, and V3Ast is trying to report a low-level error
+            UINFO(1, "Ran out of iterations finding locationStr on " << backp << endl);
+            return "";
+        }
         const AstScope* scopep;
         if ((scopep = VN_CAST_CONST(backp, Scope))) {
             // The design is flattened and there are no useful scopes