diff --git a/lib/services/download_storage_service.dart b/lib/services/download_storage_service.dart
index 46254cfb..da722165 100644
--- a/lib/services/download_storage_service.dart
+++ b/lib/services/download_storage_service.dart
@@ -413,10 +413,12 @@ class DownloadStorageService {
       // Recover from doubled app base path corruption:
       // /data/.../app_flutter/data/.../app_flutter/downloads/...
       final firstBaseIndex = storedPath.indexOf(baseDir.path);
-      final secondBaseIndex = storedPath.indexOf(baseDir.path, firstBaseIndex + baseDir.path.length);
-      if (firstBaseIndex != -1 && secondBaseIndex != -1) {
-        final tail = trimLeadingSeparators(storedPath.substring(secondBaseIndex + baseDir.path.length));
-        addCandidate(path.join(baseDir.path, tail));
+      if (firstBaseIndex != -1) {
+        final secondBaseIndex = storedPath.indexOf(baseDir.path, firstBaseIndex + baseDir.path.length);
+        if (secondBaseIndex != -1) {
+          final tail = trimLeadingSeparators(storedPath.substring(secondBaseIndex + baseDir.path.length));
+          addCandidate(path.join(baseDir.path, tail));
+        }
       }
 
       // Recover from paths that contain downloads/ but wrong prefix.
diff --git a/test/services/download_storage_service_test.dart b/test/services/download_storage_service_test.dart
index 6266e300..c7b13e18 100644
--- a/test/services/download_storage_service_test.dart
+++ b/test/services/download_storage_service_test.dart
@@ -401,6 +401,21 @@ void main() {
       final expected = p.join(tmpRoot.path, 'support', stored);
       expect(resolved, expected);
     });
+
+    test('absolute path shorter than the base dir does not throw RangeError', () async {
+      final settings = await SettingsService.getInstance();
+      final dss = DownloadStorageService.instance;
+      await dss.initialize(settings);
+
+      // Stored absolute path is 9 chars; base dir is much longer. Previously,
+      // the doubled-base-prefix recovery passed `firstBaseIndex + baseDir.path.length`
+      // (negative + len > storedPath.length) to a second `indexOf`, throwing.
+      const stored = '/nope.mkv';
+      final resolved = await dss.ensureAbsolutePath(stored);
+      // Falls back to the original absolute path (it doesn't exist on disk,
+      // and no other candidate could be derived from it).
+      expect(resolved, stored);
+    });
   });
 
   group('getReadablePath', () {