diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index d6434d262d..c37c4a37f7 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@ never use the local optimizations).  Specifying `--no-local` will
 override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular
 Git transport instead.
 +
+If the repository's `$GIT_DIR/objects` has symbolic links or is a
+symbolic link, the clone will fail. This is a security measure to
+prevent the unintentional copying of files by dereferencing the symbolic
+links.
++
 *NOTE*: this operation can race with concurrent modification to the
 source repository, similar to running `cp -r src dst` while modifying
 `src`.
diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index c171def1f3..ae2db8535a 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c
@@ -331,8 +331,18 @@ static void copy_or_link_directory(struct strbuf *src, struct strbuf *dest,
 
 	iter = dir_iterator_begin(src->buf, DIR_ITERATOR_PEDANTIC);
 
-	if (!iter)
+	if (!iter) {
+		if (errno == ENOTDIR) {
+			int saved_errno = errno;
+			struct stat st;
+
+			if (!lstat(src->buf, &st) && S_ISLNK(st.st_mode))
+				die(_("'%s' is a symlink, refusing to clone with --local"),
+				    src->buf);
+			errno = saved_errno;
+		}
 		die_errno(_("failed to start iterator over '%s'"), src->buf);
+	}
 
 	strbuf_addch(src, '/');
 	src_len = src->len;
diff --git a/t/t5604-clone-reference.sh b/t/t5604-clone-reference.sh
index 83e3c97861..9845fc04d5 100755
--- a/t/t5604-clone-reference.sh
+++ b/t/t5604-clone-reference.sh
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'clone repo with symlinked objects directory' '
 	test_must_fail git clone --local malicious clone 2>err &&
 
 	test_path_is_missing clone &&
-	grep "failed to start iterator over" err
+	grep "is a symlink, refusing to clone with --local" err
 '
 
 test_done