diff --git a/base/boot.jl b/base/boot.jl
index 5980818a2047b..bfee3c17336bc 100644
--- a/base/boot.jl
+++ b/base/boot.jl
@@ -547,19 +547,22 @@ function _checked_mul_dims(m::Int, n::Int)
     return a, ovflw
 end
 function _checked_mul_dims(m::Int, d::Int...)
-   @_foldable_meta # the compiler needs to know this loop terminates
-   a = m
-   i = 1
-   ovflw = false
-   while Intrinsics.sle_int(i, nfields(d))
-     di = getfield(d, i)
-     b = Intrinsics.checked_smul_int(a, di)
-     ovflw = Intrinsics.or_int(ovflw, getfield(b, 2))
-     ovflw = Intrinsics.or_int(ovflw, Intrinsics.ule_int(typemax_Int, di))
-     a = getfield(b, 1)
-     i = Intrinsics.add_int(i, 1)
+    @_foldable_meta # the compiler needs to know this loop terminates
+    a = m
+    i = 1
+    ovflw = false
+    neg = Intrinsics.ule_int(typemax_Int, m)
+    zero = false # if m==0 we won't have overflow since we go left to right
+    while Intrinsics.sle_int(i, nfields(d))
+        di = getfield(d, i)
+        b = Intrinsics.checked_smul_int(a, di)
+        zero = Intrinsics.or_int(zero, di === 0)
+        ovflw = Intrinsics.or_int(ovflw, getfield(b, 2))
+        neg = Intrinsics.or_int(neg, Intrinsics.ule_int(typemax_Int, di))
+        a = getfield(b, 1)
+        i = Intrinsics.add_int(i, 1)
    end
-   return a, ovflw
+   return a, Intrinsics.or_int(neg, Intrinsics.and_int(ovflw, Intrinsics.not_int(zero)))
 end
 
 # convert a set of dims to a length, with overflow checking
diff --git a/test/core.jl b/test/core.jl
index b1af565c07d6a..9950056aa8b32 100644
--- a/test/core.jl
+++ b/test/core.jl
@@ -7213,6 +7213,20 @@ end
 @test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int, 2}(undef, -10, 0)
 @test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int, 2}(undef, -1, -1)
 
+# issue #54244
+# test that zero sized array doesn't throw even with large axes
+bignum = Int==Int64 ? 2^32 : 2^16
+Array{Int}(undef, 0, bignum, bignum)
+Array{Int}(undef, bignum, bignum, 0)
+Array{Int}(undef, bignum, bignum, 0, bignum, bignum)
+# but also test that it does throw if the axes multiply to a multiple of typemax(UInt)
+@test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int}(undef, bignum, bignum)
+@test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int}(undef, 1, bignum, bignum)
+# also test that we always throw erros for negative dims even if other dims are 0 or the product is positive
+@test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int}(undef, 0, -4, -4)
+@test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int}(undef, -4, 1, 0)
+@test_throws ArgumentError Array{Int}(undef, -4, -4, 1)
+
 # issue #28812
 @test Tuple{Vararg{Array{T} where T,3}} === Tuple{Array,Array,Array}