diff --git a/coreutils/nproc.c b/coreutils/nproc.c
index a0d818c59..df63bf57a 100644
--- a/coreutils/nproc.c
+++ b/coreutils/nproc.c
@@ -56,13 +56,10 @@ int nproc_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv UNUSED_PARAM)
 		unsigned long *mask = get_malloc_cpu_affinity(0, &sz);
 		sz /= sizeof(long);
 		for (i = 0; i < sz; i++) {
-			unsigned long m = mask[i];
-			while (m) {
-				if (m & 1)
-					count++;
-				m >>= 1;
-			}
+			if (mask[i] != 0) /* most mask[i] are usually 0 */
+				count += bb_popcnt_long(mask[i]);
 		}
+		IF_FEATURE_CLEAN_UP(free(mask);)
 	}
 
 	IF_LONG_OPTS(count -= ignore;)
diff --git a/include/libbb.h b/include/libbb.h
index 67d29f843..6914b5882 100644
--- a/include/libbb.h
+++ b/include/libbb.h
@@ -397,6 +397,13 @@ extern int *BB_GLOBAL_CONST bb_errno;
 uint64_t bb_bswap_64(uint64_t x) FAST_FUNC;
 #endif
 
+unsigned FAST_FUNC bb_popcnt_32(uint32_t m);
+#if ULONG_MAX > 0xffffffff
+unsigned FAST_FUNC bb_popcnt_long(unsigned_long m);
+#else
+#define bb_popcnt_long(m) bb_popcnt_32(m)
+#endif
+
 unsigned long FAST_FUNC isqrt(unsigned long long N);
 
 unsigned long long monotonic_ns(void) FAST_FUNC;
diff --git a/libbb/Kbuild.src b/libbb/Kbuild.src
index a0e2a6da7..cb8d2c2ec 100644
--- a/libbb/Kbuild.src
+++ b/libbb/Kbuild.src
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ lib-y += perror_nomsg.o
 lib-y += perror_nomsg_and_die.o
 lib-y += pidfile.o
 lib-y += platform.o
+lib-y += popcnt.o
 lib-y += printable.o
 lib-y += printable_string.o
 lib-y += print_flags.o
diff --git a/libbb/popcnt.c b/libbb/popcnt.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe8cd240f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libbb/popcnt.c
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/* vi: set sw=4 ts=4: */
+/*
+ * Utility routines.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2024 Denys Vlasenko
+ *
+ * Licensed under GPLv2, see file LICENSE in this source tree.
+ */
+#include "libbb.h"
+
+unsigned FAST_FUNC bb_popcnt_32(uint32_t m)
+{
+	/* replace each 2 bit group with the count of set bits in it */
+	/* 00->00 01->01 10->01 11->10 */
+	m = m - ((m >> 1) & 0x55555555);
+	/* in each 4 bit group, add two 2-bit counts */
+	m = (m & 0x33333333) + ((m >> 2) & 0x33333333);
+	/* in each 8 bit group, add two 4-bit counts (in fact, 3-bit, 0nnn with n=0..4) */
+	m = (m + (m >> 4)) & 0x0f0f0f0f;
+#if 1 /* assume 32*32->32 multiply is fast */
+	m = m * 0x01010101; /* top byte = m + (m<<8) + (m<<16) + (m<<24) */
+	return m >> 24;
+#else
+	/*   0000aaaa0000bbbb0000cccc0000dddd */
+	/* +         0000aaaa0000bbbb0000cccc */
+	/* = 0000xxxx000_a+b_000xxxxx000_c+d_ (we don't care about x bits) */
+	m += m >> 8; /* in each 16-bit group, lowest 5 bits is the count */
+	/*   0000xxxx000_a+b_000xxxxx000_c+d_ */
+	/* +                 0000xxxx000_a+b_ */
+	/* = 0000xxxx000xxxxx00xxxxxx00a+b+cd */
+	m += m >> 16; /* in each 32-bit group, lowest 6 bits is the count */
+	return m & 0x3f; /* clear x bits */
+#endif
+}
+
+#if ULONG_MAX > 0xffffffff
+unsigned FAST_FUNC bb_popcnt_long(unsigned long m)
+{
+	BUILD_BUG_ON(sizeof(m) != 8);
+	/* 64-bit version of bb_popcnt_32 exists, but it uses 64-bit constants,
+	 * which are awkward to generate on assembly level on most CPUs.
+	 * For now, just add two 32-bit counts:
+	 */
+	return bb_popcnt_32((uint32_t)m) + bb_popcnt_32((uint32_t)(m >> 32));
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/networking/ifupdown.c b/networking/ifupdown.c
index 6c4ae27f2..9c3640be7 100644
--- a/networking/ifupdown.c
+++ b/networking/ifupdown.c
@@ -306,7 +306,6 @@ static int count_netmask_bits(const char *dotted_quad)
 //	d = ~d; /* 11110000 -> 00001111 */
 
 	/* Shorter version */
-	int result;
 	struct in_addr ip;
 	unsigned d;
 
@@ -316,12 +315,7 @@ static int count_netmask_bits(const char *dotted_quad)
 	d = ~d; /* 11110000 -> 00001111 */
 	if (d & (d+1)) /* check that it is in 00001111 form */
 		return -1; /* no it is not */
-	result = 32;
-	while (d) {
-		d >>= 1;
-		result--;
-	}
-	return result;
+	return bb_popcnt_32(~d);
 }
 # endif
 
diff --git a/networking/ipcalc.c b/networking/ipcalc.c
index 92e7b289d..3ec473c6b 100644
--- a/networking/ipcalc.c
+++ b/networking/ipcalc.c
@@ -71,25 +71,6 @@ static unsigned long get_netmask(unsigned long ipaddr)
 		return 0;
 }
 
-#if ENABLE_FEATURE_IPCALC_FANCY
-static int get_prefix(unsigned long netmask)
-{
-	unsigned long msk = 0x80000000;
-	int ret = 0;
-
-	netmask = htonl(netmask);
-	while (msk) {
-		if (netmask & msk)
-			ret++;
-		msk >>= 1;
-	}
-	return ret;
-}
-#else
-int get_prefix(unsigned long netmask);
-#endif
-
-
 #define NETMASK   0x01
 #define BROADCAST 0x02
 #define NETWORK   0x04
@@ -210,7 +191,7 @@ int ipcalc_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 
 	if (ENABLE_FEATURE_IPCALC_FANCY) {
 		if (opt & NETPREFIX) {
-			printf("PREFIX=%i\n", get_prefix(netmask));
+			printf("PREFIX=%i\n", bb_popcnt_32(netmask));
 		}
 
 		if (opt & HOSTNAME) {
diff --git a/networking/libiproute/utils.c b/networking/libiproute/utils.c
index 4ce230356..3cce4a06e 100644
--- a/networking/libiproute/utils.c
+++ b/networking/libiproute/utils.c
@@ -175,14 +175,13 @@ static void get_prefix_1(inet_prefix *dst, char *arg, int family)
 			if (netmask_pfx.family == AF_INET) {
 				/* fill in prefix length of dotted quad */
 				uint32_t mask = ntohl(netmask_pfx.data[0]);
-				uint32_t host = ~mask;
+				uint32_t inv = ~mask;
 
-				/* a valid netmask must be 2^n - 1 */
-				if (host & (host + 1))
-					goto bad;
+				/* a valid netmask must be 11..10..00 */
+				if (inv & (inv + 1))
+					goto bad; /* inv is not 00..01..11 */
 
-				for (plen = 0; mask; mask <<= 1)
-					++plen;
+				plen = bb_popcnt_32(mask);
 				if (plen > dst->bitlen)
 					goto bad;
 				/* dst->flags |= PREFIXLEN_SPECIFIED; */
diff --git a/networking/udhcp/dhcpc.c b/networking/udhcp/dhcpc.c
index 07e2eadfe..e44086c2e 100644
--- a/networking/udhcp/dhcpc.c
+++ b/networking/udhcp/dhcpc.c
@@ -150,18 +150,6 @@ static int sprint_nip(char *dest, const char *pre, const uint8_t *ip)
 	return sprintf(dest, "%s%u.%u.%u.%u", pre, ip[0], ip[1], ip[2], ip[3]);
 }
 
-/* really simple implementation, just count the bits */
-static int mton(uint32_t mask)
-{
-	int i = 0;
-	mask = ntohl(mask); /* 111110000-like bit pattern */
-	while (mask) {
-		i++;
-		mask <<= 1;
-	}
-	return i;
-}
-
 #if ENABLE_FEATURE_UDHCPC_SANITIZEOPT
 /* Check if a given name represents a valid DNS name */
 /* See RFC1035, 2.3.1 */
@@ -508,7 +496,8 @@ static void fill_envp(struct dhcp_packet *packet)
 				/* Generate extra envvar for DHCP_SUBNET, $mask */
 				uint32_t subnet;
 				move_from_unaligned32(subnet, opt_item->data);
-				putenvp(xasprintf("mask=%u", mton(subnet)));
+//FIXME: we do not check that subnet has bit pattern 11..10..0
+				putenvp(xasprintf("mask=%u", bb_popcnt_32(subnet)));
 			}
 		} else {
 			unsigned ofs;