diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.toml b/CHANGELOG.next.toml
index c1936e7a7d..8978fda08d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.toml
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.toml
@@ -54,3 +54,15 @@ message = "Make certain types for EMR Serverless optional. Previously, they defa
 references = ["smithy-rs#3217"]
 meta = { "breaking" = true, "tada" = false, "bug" = true }
 author = "milesziemer"
+
+[[smithy-rs]]
+message = "Prevent multiplication overflow in backoff computation"
+references = ["smithy-rs#3229", "aws-sdk-rust#960"]
+meta = { "breaking" = false, "tada" = false, "bug" = true, target = "client" }
+author = "rcoh"
+
+[[aws-sdk-rust]]
+message = "Prevent multiplication overflow in backoff computation"
+references = ["smithy-rs#3229", "aws-sdk-rust#960"]
+meta = { "breaking" = false, "tada" = false, "bug" = true }
+author = "rcoh"
diff --git a/rust-runtime/aws-smithy-runtime/src/client/retries/strategy/standard.rs b/rust-runtime/aws-smithy-runtime/src/client/retries/strategy/standard.rs
index 98d1308831..de74b31c2b 100644
--- a/rust-runtime/aws-smithy-runtime/src/client/retries/strategy/standard.rs
+++ b/rust-runtime/aws-smithy-runtime/src/client/retries/strategy/standard.rs
@@ -286,7 +286,10 @@ fn check_rate_limiter_for_delay(
 }
 
 fn calculate_exponential_backoff(base: f64, initial_backoff: f64, retry_attempts: u32) -> f64 {
-    base * initial_backoff * 2_u32.pow(retry_attempts) as f64
+    2_u32
+        .checked_pow(retry_attempts)
+        .map(|backoff| (backoff as f64) * base * initial_backoff)
+        .unwrap_or(f64::MAX)
 }
 
 fn get_seconds_since_unix_epoch(runtime_components: &RuntimeComponents) -> f64 {
@@ -793,4 +796,13 @@ mod tests {
             assert_eq!(expected_backoff, actual_backoff);
         }
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn calculate_backoff_overflow() {
+        // avoid overflow for a silly large amount of retry attempts
+        assert_eq!(
+            calculate_exponential_backoff(1_f64, 10_f64, 100000),
+            f64::MAX
+        );
+    }
 }