diff --git a/lib/cuckoo/common/web_utils.py b/lib/cuckoo/common/web_utils.py
index ecc5011c5df..ae88acde181 100644
--- a/lib/cuckoo/common/web_utils.py
+++ b/lib/cuckoo/common/web_utils.py
@@ -1399,6 +1399,7 @@ def perform_search(
         query_val = {"$exists": True}
 
     retval = []
+    mongo_search_query = None
     if repconf.mongodb.enabled and query_val:
         if term in hash_searches:
             # The file details are uniq, and we store 1 to many. So where hash type is uniq, IDs are list
@@ -1436,11 +1437,9 @@ def perform_search(
             projection = dict(**projection)
             projection[f"target.file.{FILE_REF_KEY}"] = 1
         if term in search_term_map_repetetive_blocks:
-            or_conditions = []
-            for path, condition in search_term_map_repetetive_blocks.items():
-                or_conditions.append({path: condition})
-            mongo_search_query = {"$or": or_conditions}
-        retval = list(mongo_find("analysis", mongo_search_query, projection, limit=search_limit))
+            mongo_search_query = {"$or": [{path: condition} for path, condition in mongo_search_query.items()]}
+        if not retval and mongo_search_query:
+            retval = list(mongo_find("analysis", mongo_search_query, projection, limit=search_limit))
         for doc in retval:
             target_file = doc.get("target", {}).get("file", {})
             if FILE_REF_KEY in target_file and "sha256" not in target_file: