diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/visibility/VisibilityController.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/visibility/VisibilityController.java
index b17f5291d10..5f234231dfd 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/visibility/VisibilityController.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/visibility/VisibilityController.java
@@ -494,6 +494,7 @@ public class VisibilityController extends BaseMasterAndRegionObserver implements
       Tag tag = iterator.next();
       if (tag.getType() == TagType.STRING_VIS_TAG_TYPE) {
         iterator.remove();
+        break;
       }
     }
   }