builtin/symbolic-ref.c | 2 ++
 t/t3200-branch.sh      | 4 ++--
 t/t4202-log.sh         | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/builtin/symbolic-ref.c b/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
index e547a08d6c..5354cfb4f1 100644
--- a/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ int cmd_symbolic_ref(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (!strcmp(argv[0], "HEAD") &&
 		    !starts_with(argv[1], "refs/"))
 			die("Refusing to point HEAD outside of refs/");
+		if (check_refname_format(argv[1], 0) < 0)
+			die("Refusing to set '%s' to invalid ref '%s'", argv[0], argv[1]);
 		ret = !!create_symref(argv[0], argv[1], msg);
 		break;
 	default:
diff --git a/t/t3200-branch.sh b/t/t3200-branch.sh
index 9723c2827c..b194c1b09b 100755
--- a/t/t3200-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t3200-branch.sh
@@ -723,9 +723,9 @@ test_expect_success 'deleting a symref' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'deleting a dangling symref' '
-	git symbolic-ref refs/heads/dangling-symref nowhere &&
+	git symbolic-ref refs/heads/dangling-symref refs/heads/nowhere &&
 	test_path_is_file .git/refs/heads/dangling-symref &&
-	echo "Deleted branch dangling-symref (was nowhere)." >expect &&
+	echo "Deleted branch dangling-symref (was refs/heads/nowhere)." >expect &&
 	git branch -d dangling-symref >actual &&
 	test_path_is_missing .git/refs/heads/dangling-symref &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
diff --git a/t/t4202-log.sh b/t/t4202-log.sh
index 6e66352558..427b06442d 100755
--- a/t/t4202-log.sh
+++ b/t/t4202-log.sh
@@ -2114,7 +2114,7 @@ test_expect_success REFFILES 'log diagnoses bogus HEAD hash' '
 
 test_expect_success 'log diagnoses bogus HEAD symref' '
 	git init empty &&
-	git --git-dir empty/.git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/invalid.lock &&
+	echo "ref: refs/heads/invalid.lock" > empty/.git/HEAD &&
 	test_must_fail git -C empty log 2>stderr &&
 	test_i18ngrep broken stderr &&
 	test_must_fail git -C empty log --default totally-bogus 2>stderr &&