diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index ec4d1cd2bb..f98f52980d 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c
@@ -796,6 +796,10 @@ int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (option_local > 0 && !is_local)
 		warning(_("--local is ignored"));
 
+	/* no need to be strict, transport_set_option() will validate it again */
+	if (option_depth && atoi(option_depth) < 1)
+		die(_("depth %s is not a positive number"), option_depth);
+
 	if (argc == 2)
 		dir = xstrdup(argv[1]);
 	else
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index e3ac84a0dd..1e7d617f46 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -1079,6 +1079,10 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		}
 	}
 
+	/* no need to be strict, transport_set_option() will validate it again */
+	if (depth && atoi(depth) < 1)
+		die(_("depth %s is not a positive number"), depth);
+
 	if (recurse_submodules != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF) {
 		if (recurse_submodules_default) {
 			int arg = parse_fetch_recurse_submodules_arg("--recurse-submodules-default", recurse_submodules_default);