diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c
index 31eed19515..43c749d2d0 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c
@@ -25,8 +25,17 @@
 
 struct _shvarLine {
 
+	const char *key;
+
 	CList lst;
 
+	/* We index variables by their key in shvarFile.lst_idx. One shell variable might
+	 * occur multiple times in a file (in which case the last occurrence wins).
+	 * Hence, we need to keep a list of all the same keys.
+	 *
+	 * This is a pointer to the next shadowed line. */
+	struct _shvarLine *prev_shadowed;
+
 	/* There are three cases:
 	 *
 	 * 1) the line is not a valid variable assignment (that is, it doesn't
@@ -44,7 +53,6 @@ struct _shvarLine {
 	 *   @key/@key_with_prefix.
 	 * */
 	char *line;
-	const char *key;
 	char *key_with_prefix;
 
 	/* svSetValue() will clear the dirty flag. */
@@ -54,10 +62,11 @@ struct _shvarLine {
 typedef struct _shvarLine shvarLine;
 
 struct _shvarFile {
-	char      *fileName;
-	int        fd;
-	CList      lst_head;
-	gboolean   modified;
+	char *fileName;
+	CList lst_head;
+	GHashTable *lst_idx;
+	int fd;
+	bool modified:1;
 };
 
 /*****************************************************************************/
@@ -629,6 +638,7 @@ svFile_new (const char *name)
 	s->fd = -1;
 	s->fileName = g_strdup (name);
 	c_list_init (&s->lst_head);
+	s->lst_idx = g_hash_table_new (nm_pstr_hash, nm_pstr_equal);
 	return s;
 }
 
@@ -690,8 +700,8 @@ line_new_parse (const char *value, gsize len)
 
 	line = g_slice_new (shvarLine);
 	*line = (shvarLine) {
-		.lst   = C_LIST_INIT (line->lst),
-		.dirty = TRUE,
+		.lst      = C_LIST_INIT (line->lst),
+		.dirty    = TRUE,
 	};
 
 	for (k = 0; k < len; k++) {
@@ -780,14 +790,48 @@ static void
 line_free (shvarLine *line)
 {
 	ASSERT_shvarLine (line);
+	c_list_unlink_stale (&line->lst);
 	g_free (line->line);
 	g_free (line->key_with_prefix);
-	c_list_unlink_stale (&line->lst);
 	g_slice_free (shvarLine, line);
 }
 
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
+static void
+_line_link_parse (shvarFile *s, const char *value, gsize len)
+{
+	shvarLine *line;
+
+	line = line_new_parse (value, len);
+	if (!line->key)
+		goto do_link;
+
+	if (G_UNLIKELY (!g_hash_table_insert (s->lst_idx, line, line))) {
+		shvarLine *existing_key;
+		shvarLine *existing_val;
+
+		/* Slow-path: we have duplicate keys. Fix the mess we created.
+		 * Unfortunately, g_hash_table_insert() now had to allocate an extra
+		 * array to track the keys/values differently. I wish there was an
+		 * GHashTable API to add a key only if it does not exist yet. */
+
+		if (!g_hash_table_lookup_extended (s->lst_idx, line, (gpointer *) &existing_key, (gpointer *) &existing_val))
+			nm_assert_not_reached ();
+
+		nm_assert (existing_val == line);
+		nm_assert (existing_key != line);
+		line->prev_shadowed = existing_key;
+		g_hash_table_replace (s->lst_idx, line, line);
+	}
+
+do_link:
+	c_list_link_tail (&s->lst_head, &line->lst);
+}
+
+/*****************************************************************************/
+
+
 /* Open the file <name>, returning a shvarFile on success and NULL on failure.
  * Add a wrinkle to let the caller specify whether or not to create the file
  * (actually, return a structure anyway) if it doesn't exist.
@@ -845,9 +889,9 @@ svOpenFileInternal (const char *name, gboolean create, GError **error)
 	s = svFile_new (name);
 
 	for (p = arena; (q = strchr (p, '\n')) != NULL; p = q + 1)
-		c_list_link_tail (&s->lst_head, &line_new_parse (p, q - p)->lst);
+		_line_link_parse (s, p, q - p);
 	if (p[0])
-		c_list_link_tail (&s->lst_head, &line_new_parse (p, strlen (p))->lst);
+		_line_link_parse (s, p, strlen (p));
 
 	/* closefd is set if we opened the file read-only, so go ahead and
 	 * close it, because we can't write to it anyway */
@@ -1000,16 +1044,16 @@ svGetKeysSorted (shvarFile *s,
 const char *
 svFindFirstNumberedKey (shvarFile *s, const char *key_prefix)
 {
-	const shvarLine *l;
+	const shvarLine *line;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (s, NULL);
 	g_return_val_if_fail (key_prefix, NULL);
 
-	c_list_for_each_entry (l, &s->lst_head, lst) {
-		if (   l->key
-		    && l->line
-		    && nms_ifcfg_rh_utils_is_numbered_tag (l->key, key_prefix, NULL))
-			return l->key;
+	c_list_for_each_entry (line, &s->lst_head, lst) {
+		if (   line->key
+		    && line->line
+		    && nms_ifcfg_rh_utils_is_numbered_tag (line->key, key_prefix, NULL))
+			return line->key;
 	}
 
 	return NULL;
@@ -1020,8 +1064,7 @@ svFindFirstNumberedKey (shvarFile *s, const char *key_prefix)
 static const char *
 _svGetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, char **to_free)
 {
-	CList *current;
-	const shvarLine *line, *l;
+	const shvarLine *line;
 	const char *v;
 
 	nm_assert (s);
@@ -1030,12 +1073,7 @@ _svGetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, char **to_free)
 
 	ASSERT_key_is_well_known (key);
 
-	line = NULL;
-	c_list_for_each (current, &s->lst_head) {
-		l = c_list_entry (current, shvarLine, lst);
-		if (l->key && nm_streq (l->key, key))
-			line = l;
-	}
+	line = g_hash_table_lookup (s->lst_idx, &key);
 
 	if (line && line->line) {
 		v = svUnescape (line->line, to_free);
@@ -1226,19 +1264,15 @@ svGetValueEnum (shvarFile *s, const char *key,
 gboolean
 svUnsetAll (shvarFile *s, SvKeyType match_key_type)
 {
-	CList *current;
 	shvarLine *line;
 	gboolean changed = FALSE;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (s, FALSE);
 
-	c_list_for_each (current, &s->lst_head) {
-		line = c_list_entry (current, shvarLine, lst);
+	c_list_for_each_entry (line, &s->lst_head, lst) {
 		ASSERT_shvarLine (line);
-		if (!line->key)
-			continue;
-
-		if (_svKeyMatchesType (line->key, match_key_type)) {
+		if (   line->key
+		    && _svKeyMatchesType (line->key, match_key_type)) {
 			if (nm_clear_g_free (&line->line)) {
 				ASSERT_shvarLine (line);
 				changed = TRUE;
@@ -1289,8 +1323,8 @@ svUnsetDirtyWellknown (shvarFile *s, NMTernary new_dirty_value)
 gboolean
 svSetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value)
 {
-	CList *current;
-	shvarLine *line, *l;
+	shvarLine *line;
+	shvarLine *l_shadowed;
 	gboolean changed = FALSE;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (s, FALSE);
@@ -1300,18 +1334,19 @@ svSetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value)
 
 	ASSERT_key_is_well_known (key);
 
-	line = NULL;
-	c_list_for_each (current, &s->lst_head) {
-		l = c_list_entry (current, shvarLine, lst);
-		if (l->key && nm_streq (l->key, key)) {
-			if (line) {
-				/* if we find multiple entries for the same key, we can
-				 * delete all but the last. */
-				line_free (line);
-				changed = TRUE;
-			}
-			line = l;
-		}
+	line = g_hash_table_lookup (s->lst_idx, &key);
+	if (   line
+	    && (l_shadowed = line->prev_shadowed)) {
+		/* if we find multiple entries for the same key, we can
+		 * delete the shadowed ones. */
+		line->prev_shadowed = NULL;
+		changed = TRUE;
+		do {
+			shvarLine *l = l_shadowed;
+
+			l_shadowed = l_shadowed->prev_shadowed;
+			line_free (l);
+		} while (l_shadowed);
 	}
 
 	if (!value) {
@@ -1324,7 +1359,10 @@ svSetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value)
 		}
 	} else {
 		if (!line) {
-			c_list_link_tail (&s->lst_head, &line_new_build (key, value)->lst);
+			line = line_new_build (key, value);
+			if (!g_hash_table_add (s->lst_idx, line))
+				nm_assert_not_reached ();
+			c_list_link_tail (&s->lst_head, &line->lst);
 			changed = TRUE;
 		} else {
 			if (line_set (line, value))
@@ -1476,14 +1514,15 @@ svWriteFile (shvarFile *s, int mode, GError **error)
 void
 svCloseFile (shvarFile *s)
 {
-	CList *current, *safe;
+	shvarLine *line;
 
 	g_return_if_fail (s != NULL);
 
 	if (s->fd >= 0)
 		nm_close (s->fd);
 	g_free (s->fileName);
-	c_list_for_each_safe (current, safe, &s->lst_head)
-		line_free (c_list_entry (current, shvarLine, lst));
+	g_hash_table_destroy (s->lst_idx);
+	while ((line = c_list_first_entry (&s->lst_head, shvarLine, lst)))
+		line_free (line);
 	g_slice_free (shvarFile, s);
 }