diff --git a/lib/events.js b/lib/events.js
index 50cc720b1247ba..999ee4ec746d18 100644
--- a/lib/events.js
+++ b/lib/events.js
@@ -939,7 +939,7 @@ function getEventListeners(emitterOrTarget, type) {
 function getMaxListeners(emitterOrTarget) {
   if (typeof emitterOrTarget?.getMaxListeners === 'function') {
     return _getMaxListeners(emitterOrTarget);
-  } else if (emitterOrTarget?.[kMaxEventTargetListeners]) {
+  } else if (typeof emitterOrTarget?.[kMaxEventTargetListeners] === 'number') {
     return emitterOrTarget[kMaxEventTargetListeners];
   }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-events-getmaxlisteners.js b/test/parallel/test-events-getmaxlisteners.js
index 05b4e75b7218fb..a90a22a1ce1f81 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-events-getmaxlisteners.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-events-getmaxlisteners.js
@@ -17,3 +17,8 @@ const { getMaxListeners, EventEmitter, defaultMaxListeners, setMaxListeners } =
   setMaxListeners(101, et);
   assert.strictEqual(getMaxListeners(et), 101);
 }
+
+{
+  const ac = new AbortController();
+  assert.strictEqual(getMaxListeners(ac.signal), 0);
+}