diff --git a/src/Columns/ColumnVariant.cpp b/src/Columns/ColumnVariant.cpp
index 8d7de94a319..2161fcd2900 100644
--- a/src/Columns/ColumnVariant.cpp
+++ b/src/Columns/ColumnVariant.cpp
@@ -919,7 +919,7 @@ ColumnPtr ColumnVariant::permute(const Permutation & perm, size_t limit) const
     if (hasOnlyNulls())
     {
         if (limit)
-            return cloneResized(limit);
+            return cloneResized(limit ? std::min(size(), limit) : size());
 
         /// If no limit, we can just return current immutable column.
         return this->getPtr();
diff --git a/tests/queries/0_stateless/03261_variant_permutation_bug.reference b/tests/queries/0_stateless/03261_variant_permutation_bug.reference
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/tests/queries/0_stateless/03261_variant_permutation_bug.sql b/tests/queries/0_stateless/03261_variant_permutation_bug.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..373dd9e19fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/queries/0_stateless/03261_variant_permutation_bug.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+set allow_experimental_variant_type=1;
+create table test (x UInt64, d Variant(UInt64)) engine=Memory;
+insert into test select number, null from numbers(200000);
+select d from test order by d::String limit 32213 format Null;
+drop table test;
+