diff --git a/bgpd/bgp_clist.c b/bgpd/bgp_clist.c
index 61ba527498..6479126d06 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgp_clist.c
+++ b/bgpd/bgp_clist.c
@@ -534,20 +534,29 @@ static bool community_regexp_match(struct community *com, regex_t *reg)
 	const char *str;
 	char *regstr;
 	int rv;
+	bool translate_alias = !!bgp_ca_alias_hash->count;
 
 	/* When there is no communities attribute it is treated as empty
 	   string.  */
 	if (com == NULL || com->size == 0)
-		str = "";
-	else
-		str = community_str(com, false, true);
+		return false;
 
-	regstr = bgp_alias2community_str(str);
+	str = community_str(com, false, translate_alias);
+
+	/* If at least one community alias is configured, then let's
+	 * do the work, otherwise we don't need to spend time on splitting
+	 * stuff and creating a new string.
+	 */
+	regstr = translate_alias ? bgp_alias2community_str(str) : (char *)str;
 
 	/* Regular expression match.  */
 	rv = regexec(reg, regstr, 0, NULL, 0);
 
-	XFREE(MTYPE_TMP, regstr);
+	/* This is allocated by frrstr_join(), and needs to be freed
+	 * only if it was created.
+	 */
+	if (translate_alias)
+		XFREE(MTYPE_TMP, regstr);
 
 	return rv == 0;
 }
@@ -608,20 +617,29 @@ static bool lcommunity_regexp_match(struct lcommunity *com, regex_t *reg)
 	const char *str;
 	char *regstr;
 	int rv;
+	bool translate_alias = !!bgp_ca_alias_hash->count;
 
 	/* When there is no communities attribute it is treated as empty
 	   string.  */
 	if (com == NULL || com->size == 0)
-		str = "";
-	else
-		str = lcommunity_str(com, false, true);
+		return false;
 
-	regstr = bgp_alias2community_str(str);
+	str = lcommunity_str(com, false, translate_alias);
+
+	/* If at least one community alias is configured, then let's
+	 * do the work, otherwise we don't need to spend time on splitting
+	 * stuff and creating a new string.
+	 */
+	regstr = translate_alias ? bgp_alias2community_str(str) : (char *)str;
 
 	/* Regular expression match.  */
 	rv = regexec(reg, regstr, 0, NULL, 0);
 
-	XFREE(MTYPE_TMP, regstr);
+	/* This is allocated by frrstr_join(), and needs to be freed
+	 * only if it was created.
+	 */
+	if (translate_alias)
+		XFREE(MTYPE_TMP, regstr);
 
 	return rv == 0;
 }
diff --git a/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.c b/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.c
index 96dc1ec8f9..d7567fcdd4 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.c
+++ b/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.c
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 #include "bgpd/bgpd.h"
 #include "bgpd/bgp_community_alias.h"
 
-static struct hash *bgp_ca_alias_hash;
+struct hash *bgp_ca_alias_hash;
 static struct hash *bgp_ca_community_hash;
 
 static unsigned int bgp_ca_community_hash_key(const void *p)
diff --git a/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.h b/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.h
index cb7983e1a7..9dcab6fe30 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.h
+++ b/bgpd/bgp_community_alias.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ struct community_alias {
 	char alias[BUFSIZ];
 };
 
+extern struct hash *bgp_ca_alias_hash;
 extern void bgp_community_alias_init(void);
 extern void bgp_community_alias_finish(void);
 extern struct community_alias *bgp_ca_alias_lookup(struct community_alias *ca);