diff --git a/builtin/for-each-ref.c b/builtin/for-each-ref.c
index f3ce004d53c55e3f53d6a90d21d2877368676f08..a0123f6146b53de295d01b438b72fb3dc7d76a0c 100644
--- a/builtin/for-each-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/for-each-ref.c
@@ -717,7 +717,10 @@ static void populate_value(struct refinfo *ref)
 				 starts_with(name, "upstream")) {
 				char buf[40];
 
-				stat_tracking_info(branch, &num_ours, &num_theirs);
+				if (stat_tracking_info(branch, &num_ours,
+						       &num_theirs) != 1)
+					continue;
+
 				if (!num_ours && !num_theirs)
 					v->s = "";
 				else if (!num_ours) {
@@ -735,7 +738,11 @@ static void populate_value(struct refinfo *ref)
 			} else if (!strcmp(formatp, "trackshort") &&
 				   starts_with(name, "upstream")) {
 				assert(branch);
-				stat_tracking_info(branch, &num_ours, &num_theirs);
+
+				if (stat_tracking_info(branch, &num_ours,
+							&num_theirs) != 1)
+					continue;
+
 				if (!num_ours && !num_theirs)
 					v->s = "=";
 				else if (!num_ours)
diff --git a/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh b/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
index bda354c1c48bce9fc6fdc442c3ec89fb034f20d3..c66bf7981c5328356005963e15262c8d870ac61c 100755
--- a/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
@@ -334,6 +334,19 @@ test_expect_success 'Check that :track[short] cannot be used with other atoms' '
 	test_must_fail git for-each-ref --format="%(refname:trackshort)" 2>/dev/null
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'Check that :track[short] works when upstream is invalid' '
+	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
+
+
+	EOF
+	test_when_finished "git config branch.master.merge refs/heads/master" &&
+	git config branch.master.merge refs/heads/does-not-exist &&
+	git for-each-ref \
+		--format="%(upstream:track)$LF%(upstream:trackshort)" \
+		refs/heads >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected actual
+'
+
 cat >expected <<EOF
 $(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 EOF