diff --git a/doc/api/assert.md b/doc/api/assert.md
index 34107c7730fdd9..d40300cc3fdb1b 100644
--- a/doc/api/assert.md
+++ b/doc/api/assert.md
@@ -546,10 +546,6 @@ An alias of [`assert.ok()`][].
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.1.21
 changes:
-  - version: REPLACEME
-    pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/46593
-    description: Recursion now stops when either side encounters a circular
-                 reference.
   - version: v18.0.0
     pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/41020
     description: Regular expressions lastIndex property is now compared as well.
@@ -621,7 +617,7 @@ are also recursively evaluated by the following rules.
 * [Object wrappers][] are compared both as objects and unwrapped values.
 * `Object` properties are compared unordered.
 * [`Map`][] keys and [`Set`][] items are compared unordered.
-* Recursion stops when both sides differ or either side encounters a circular
+* Recursion stops when both sides differ or both sides encounter a circular
   reference.
 * Implementation does not test the [`[[Prototype]]`][prototype-spec] of
   objects.
@@ -731,10 +727,6 @@ parameter is an instance of an [`Error`][] then it will be thrown instead of the
 <!-- YAML
 added: v1.2.0
 changes:
-  - version: REPLACEME
-    pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/46593
-    description: Recursion now stops when either side encounters a circular
-                 reference.
   - version: v18.0.0
     pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/41020
     description: Regular expressions lastIndex property is now compared as well.
@@ -788,7 +780,7 @@ are recursively evaluated also by the following rules.
 * [Object wrappers][] are compared both as objects and unwrapped values.
 * `Object` properties are compared unordered.
 * [`Map`][] keys and [`Set`][] items are compared unordered.
-* Recursion stops when both sides differ or either side encounters a circular
+* Recursion stops when both sides differ or both sides encounter a circular
   reference.
 * [`WeakMap`][] and [`WeakSet`][] comparison does not rely on their values. See
   below for further details.
diff --git a/lib/internal/util/comparisons.js b/lib/internal/util/comparisons.js
index 96b5210c8be096..65dd54589008f3 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/comparisons.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/comparisons.js
@@ -343,10 +343,7 @@ function keyCheck(val1, val2, strict, memos, iterationType, aKeys) {
   if (memos.set === undefined) {
     if (memos.deep === false) {
       if (memos.a === val1) {
-        return memos.b === val2;
-      }
-      if (memos.b === val2) {
-        return false;
+        if (memos.b === val2) return true;
       }
       memos.c = val1;
       memos.d = val2;
@@ -366,12 +363,9 @@ function keyCheck(val1, val2, strict, memos, iterationType, aKeys) {
 
   const originalSize = set.size;
   set.add(val1);
-  if (originalSize === set.size) {
-    return set.has(val2);
-  }
   set.add(val2);
-  if (originalSize === set.size - 1) {
-    return false;
+  if (originalSize === set.size) {
+    return true;
   }
 
   const areEq = objEquiv(val1, val2, strict, aKeys, memos, iterationType);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-assert-deep.js b/test/parallel/test-assert-deep.js
index d4334b584549b9..f7489993aa60ba 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-assert-deep.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-assert-deep.js
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ assertNotDeepOrStrict(
   b.a = {};
   b.a.a = a;
 
-  assertNotDeepOrStrict(a, b);
+  assertDeepAndStrictEqual(a, b);
 }
 
 {
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ assertNotDeepOrStrict(
   b.a = b;
   const c = {};
   c.a = a;
-  assertNotDeepOrStrict(b, c);
+  assertDeepAndStrictEqual(b, c);
 }
 
 {
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ assertNotDeepOrStrict(
   b.add(b);
   const c = new Set();
   c.add(a);
-  assertNotDeepOrStrict(b, c);
+  assertDeepAndStrictEqual(b, c);
 }
 
 // https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/pull/7178