diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index abedf9c09e2..53ad0a7a4d0 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
   . Fixed $x = (bool)$x; with opcache (should emit undeclared variable notice).
     (Tyson Andre)
 
+- PCRE:
+  . Fixed bug #78853 (preg_match() may return integer > 1). (cmb)
+
 - Standard:
   . Fixed bug #78759 (array_search in $GLOBALS). (Nikita)
 
diff --git a/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c b/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c
index 882389e1cef..38eabe2556d 100644
--- a/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c
+++ b/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c
@@ -1344,7 +1344,11 @@ matched:
 				count = pcre2_match(pce->re, (PCRE2_SPTR)subject, subject_len, start_offset2,
 					PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK | PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART | PCRE2_ANCHORED, match_data, mctx);
 				if (count >= 0) {
-					goto matched;
+					if (global) {
+						goto matched;
+					} else {
+						break;
+					}
 				} else if (count == PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH) {
 					/* If we previously set PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART after a null match,
 					   this is not necessarily the end. We need to advance
diff --git a/ext/pcre/tests/bug78853.phpt b/ext/pcre/tests/bug78853.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..369ed0f9260
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/pcre/tests/bug78853.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+--TEST--
+Bug #78853 (preg_match() may return integer > 1)
+--FILE--
+<?php
+var_dump(preg_match('/^|\d{1,2}$/', "7"));
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+int(1)