diff --git a/builtin-log.c b/builtin-log.c
index 911fd65990..9204ffd760 100644
--- a/builtin-log.c
+++ b/builtin-log.c
@@ -217,6 +217,11 @@ static int cmd_log_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
 	if (rev->early_output)
 		finish_early_output(rev);
 
+	/*
+	 * For --check and --exit-code, the exit code is based on CHECK_FAILED
+	 * and HAS_CHANGES being accumulated in rev->diffopt, so be careful to
+	 * retain that state information if replacing rev->diffopt in this loop
+	 */
 	while ((commit = get_revision(rev)) != NULL) {
 		log_tree_commit(rev, commit);
 		if (!rev->reflog_info) {
@@ -227,7 +232,11 @@ static int cmd_log_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
 		free_commit_list(commit->parents);
 		commit->parents = NULL;
 	}
-	return 0;
+	if (rev->diffopt.output_format & DIFF_FORMAT_CHECKDIFF &&
+	    DIFF_OPT_TST(&rev->diffopt, CHECK_FAILED)) {
+		return 02;
+	}
+	return diff_result_code(&rev->diffopt, 0);
 }
 
 static int git_log_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
diff --git a/log-tree.c b/log-tree.c
index bd8b9e45ab..30cd5bb228 100644
--- a/log-tree.c
+++ b/log-tree.c
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ static int log_tree_diff(struct rev_info *opt, struct commit *commit, struct log
 	struct commit_list *parents;
 	unsigned const char *sha1 = commit->object.sha1;
 
-	if (!opt->diff)
+	if (!opt->diff && !DIFF_OPT_TST(&opt->diffopt, EXIT_WITH_STATUS))
 		return 0;
 
 	/* Root commit? */