diff --git a/cache-tree.c b/cache-tree.c
index ddf0cc9f9a..c2676e8a31 100644
--- a/cache-tree.c
+++ b/cache-tree.c
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ static int update_one(struct cache_tree *it,
 	i = 0;
 	while (i < entries) {
 		const struct cache_entry *ce = cache[i];
-		struct cache_tree_sub *sub;
+		struct cache_tree_sub *sub = NULL;
 		const char *path, *slash;
 		int pathlen, entlen;
 		const unsigned char *sha1;
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ static int update_one(struct cache_tree *it,
 		 * they are not part of generated trees. Invalidate up
 		 * to root to force cache-tree users to read elsewhere.
 		 */
-		if (ce_intent_to_add(ce)) {
+		if (!sub && ce_intent_to_add(ce)) {
 			to_invalidate = 1;
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/t/t2203-add-intent.sh b/t/t2203-add-intent.sh
index 2a4a749b4f..24aed2e541 100755
--- a/t/t2203-add-intent.sh
+++ b/t/t2203-add-intent.sh
@@ -82,5 +82,22 @@ test_expect_success 'cache-tree invalidates i-t-a paths' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'cache-tree does not ignore dir that has i-t-a entries' '
+	git init ita-in-dir &&
+	(
+		cd ita-in-dir &&
+		mkdir 2 &&
+		for f in 1 2/1 2/2 3
+		do
+			echo "$f" >"$f"
+		done &&
+		git add 1 2/2 3 &&
+		git add -N 2/1 &&
+		git commit -m committed &&
+		git ls-tree -r HEAD >actual &&
+		grep 2/2 actual
+	)
+'
+
 test_done