diff --git a/src/headers/tomcrypt_pk.h b/src/headers/tomcrypt_pk.h
index da3296e..aa00be1 100644
--- a/src/headers/tomcrypt_pk.h
+++ b/src/headers/tomcrypt_pk.h
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ enum {
 /* Indicates standard output formats that can be read e.g. by OpenSSL or GnuTLS */
 #define PK_STD          0x1000
 
+/* iterations limit for retry-loops */
+#define PK_MAX_RETRIES  20
+
 int rand_prime(void *N, long len, prng_state *prng, int wprng);
 int rand_bn_bits(void *N, int bits, prng_state *prng, int wprng);
 int rand_bn_range(void *N, void *limit, prng_state *prng, int wprng);
diff --git a/src/pk/ecc/ecc_sign_hash.c b/src/pk/ecc/ecc_sign_hash.c
index 18e3875..e97dcf4 100644
--- a/src/pk/ecc/ecc_sign_hash.c
+++ b/src/pk/ecc/ecc_sign_hash.c
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ static int _ecc_sign_hash(const unsigned char *in,  unsigned long inlen,
 {
    ecc_key       pubkey;
    void          *r, *s, *e, *p;
-   int           err, max_iterations = 20;
+   int           err, max_iterations = PK_MAX_RETRIES;
    unsigned long pbits, pbytes, i, shift_right;
    unsigned char ch, buf[MAXBLOCKSIZE];