diff --git a/src/jemalloc.c b/src/jemalloc.c
index 94949cc0..32d72392 100644
--- a/src/jemalloc.c
+++ b/src/jemalloc.c
@@ -1585,8 +1585,8 @@ malloc_conf_init_helper(sc_data_t *sc_data, unsigned bin_shard_sizes[SC_NBINS],
 			    "hpa_sec_nshards", 0, 0, CONF_CHECK_MIN,
 			    CONF_DONT_CHECK_MAX, true);
 			CONF_HANDLE_SIZE_T(opt_hpa_sec_opts.max_alloc,
-			    "hpa_sec_max_alloc", PAGE, 0, CONF_CHECK_MIN,
-			    CONF_DONT_CHECK_MAX, true);
+			    "hpa_sec_max_alloc", PAGE, USIZE_GROW_SLOW_THRESHOLD,
+			    CONF_CHECK_MIN, CONF_CHECK_MAX, true);
 			CONF_HANDLE_SIZE_T(opt_hpa_sec_opts.max_bytes,
 			    "hpa_sec_max_bytes", PAGE, 0, CONF_CHECK_MIN,
 			    CONF_DONT_CHECK_MAX, true);
diff --git a/src/sec.c b/src/sec.c
index 19d69ff4..fe504054 100644
--- a/src/sec.c
+++ b/src/sec.c
@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@ bool
 sec_init(tsdn_t *tsdn, sec_t *sec, base_t *base, pai_t *fallback,
     const sec_opts_t *opts) {
 	assert(opts->max_alloc >= PAGE);
+	/*
+	 * Same as tcache, sec do not cache allocs/dallocs larger than
+	 * USIZE_GROW_SLOW_THRESHOLD because the usize above this increases
+	 * by PAGE and the number of usizes is too large.
+	 */
+#ifdef LIMIT_USIZE_GAP
+	assert(opts->max_alloc <= USIZE_GROW_SLOW_THRESHOLD);
+#endif
 
 	size_t max_alloc = PAGE_FLOOR(opts->max_alloc);
 	pszind_t npsizes = sz_psz2ind(max_alloc) + 1;
diff --git a/test/unit/hpa.c b/test/unit/hpa.c
index 50b96a87..6c42729a 100644
--- a/test/unit/hpa.c
+++ b/test/unit/hpa.c
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 #define SHARD_IND 111
 
-#define ALLOC_MAX (HUGEPAGE / 4)
+#define ALLOC_MAX (HUGEPAGE)
 
 typedef struct test_data_s test_data_t;
 struct test_data_s {
diff --git a/test/unit/sec.c b/test/unit/sec.c
index 0b5e1c31..a6e6b8b8 100644
--- a/test/unit/sec.c
+++ b/test/unit/sec.c
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ TEST_BEGIN(test_expand_shrink_delegate) {
 
 	bool deferred_work_generated = false;
 
-	test_sec_init(&sec, &ta.pai, /* nshards */ 1, /* max_alloc */ 10 * PAGE,
+	test_sec_init(&sec, &ta.pai, /* nshards */ 1, /* max_alloc */ 8 * PAGE,
 	    /* max_bytes */ 1000 * PAGE);
 	edata_t *edata = pai_alloc(tsdn, &sec.pai, PAGE, PAGE,
 	    /* zero */ false, /* guarded */ false, /* frequent_reuse */ false,