diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 4a054c5402c0e25770282bfae25b2a63cf3ca4b6..9eaffdefd03f9d8454540f2300992994bee27d86 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -131,8 +131,21 @@ struct cache_entry {
 #define CE_UPDATE    (0x10000)
 #define CE_REMOVE    (0x20000)
 
-#define create_ce_flags(len, stage) ((len) | ((stage) << CE_STAGESHIFT))
-#define ce_namelen(ce) (CE_NAMEMASK & (ce)->ce_flags)
+static inline unsigned create_ce_flags(size_t len, unsigned stage)
+{
+	if (len >= CE_NAMEMASK)
+		len = CE_NAMEMASK;
+	return (len | (stage << CE_STAGESHIFT));
+}
+
+static inline size_t ce_namelen(const struct cache_entry *ce)
+{
+	size_t len = ce->ce_flags & CE_NAMEMASK;
+	if (len < CE_NAMEMASK)
+		return len;
+	return strlen(ce->name + CE_NAMEMASK) + CE_NAMEMASK;
+}
+
 #define ce_size(ce) cache_entry_size(ce_namelen(ce))
 #define ondisk_ce_size(ce) ondisk_cache_entry_size(ce_namelen(ce))
 #define ce_stage(ce) ((CE_STAGEMASK & (ce)->ce_flags) >> CE_STAGESHIFT)
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index 82a6238b7783ef41896834dae11a528e77f4e447..528f697f5995f360c49651338af94bc23e00d032 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -928,6 +928,8 @@ int read_index(struct index_state *istate)
 
 static void convert_from_disk(struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk, struct cache_entry *ce)
 {
+	size_t len;
+
 	ce->ce_ctime = ntohl(ondisk->ctime.sec);
 	ce->ce_mtime = ntohl(ondisk->mtime.sec);
 	ce->ce_dev   = ntohl(ondisk->dev);
@@ -939,7 +941,15 @@ static void convert_from_disk(struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk, struct cache_en
 	/* On-disk flags are just 16 bits */
 	ce->ce_flags = ntohs(ondisk->flags);
 	hashcpy(ce->sha1, ondisk->sha1);
-	memcpy(ce->name, ondisk->name, ce_namelen(ce)+1);
+
+	len = ce->ce_flags & CE_NAMEMASK;
+	if (len == CE_NAMEMASK)
+		len = strlen(ondisk->name);
+	/*
+	 * NEEDSWORK: If the original index is crafted, this copy could
+	 * go unchecked.
+	 */
+	memcpy(ce->name, ondisk->name, len + 1);
 }
 
 /* remember to discard_cache() before reading a different cache! */
diff --git a/t/t0000-basic.sh b/t/t0000-basic.sh
index 4e49d590651363631a1f3a795d3c1679a70fb05f..9f84b8d3acf198aafbd0d2a8445dce7ce976ee3d 100755
--- a/t/t0000-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t0000-basic.sh
@@ -297,4 +297,24 @@ test_expect_success 'absolute path works as expected' '
 	test "$sym" = "$(test-absolute-path $dir2/syml)"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'very long name in the index handled sanely' '
+
+	a=a && # 1
+	a=$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a && # 16
+	a=$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a && # 256
+	a=$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a && # 4096
+	a=${a}q &&
+
+	>path4 &&
+	git update-index --add path4 &&
+	(
+		git ls-files -s path4 |
+		sed -e "s/	.*/	/" |
+		tr -d "\012"
+		echo "$a"
+	) | git update-index --index-info &&
+	len=$(git ls-files "a*" | wc -c) &&
+	test $len = 4098
+'
+
 test_done