diff --git a/libsepol/src/ebitmap.c b/libsepol/src/ebitmap.c
index d23444ce..a5108b71 100644
--- a/libsepol/src/ebitmap.c
+++ b/libsepol/src/ebitmap.c
@@ -128,14 +128,15 @@ int ebitmap_andnot(ebitmap_t *dst, ebitmap_t *e1, ebitmap_t *e2, unsigned int ma
 
 unsigned int ebitmap_cardinality(ebitmap_t *e1)
 {
-	unsigned int i, count = 0;
+	unsigned int count = 0;
+	ebitmap_node_t *n;
 
 	if (e1->cardinality || e1->highbit == 0)
 		return e1->cardinality;
 
-	for (i=ebitmap_startbit(e1); i < ebitmap_length(e1); i++)
-		if (ebitmap_get_bit(e1, i))
-			count++;
+	for (n = e1->node; n; n = n->next) {
+		count += __builtin_popcountll(n->map);
+	}
 	e1->cardinality = count;
 	return count;
 }