diff --git a/lib/rhashtable.c b/lib/rhashtable.c
index e96ad1a52c90..8514f7c5f029 100644
--- a/lib/rhashtable.c
+++ b/lib/rhashtable.c
@@ -736,6 +736,18 @@ int rhashtable_init(struct rhashtable *ht,
 
 	ht->p.min_size = max(ht->p.min_size, HASH_MIN_SIZE);
 
+	/* The maximum (not average) chain length grows with the
+	 * size of the hash table, at a rate of (log N)/(log log N).
+	 * The value of 16 is selected so that even if the hash
+	 * table grew to 2^32 you would not expect the maximum
+	 * chain length to exceed it unless we are under attack
+	 * (or extremely unlucky).
+	 *
+	 * As this limit is only to detect attacks, we don't need
+	 * to set it to a lower value as you'd need the chain
+	 * length to vastly exceed 16 to have any real effect
+	 * on the system.
+	 */
 	if (!params->insecure_elasticity)
 		ht->elasticity = 16;