diff --git a/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh b/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh
index 044603c26ed62e3ddf03ebb2542f783e4dd7d9ff..6b2a5f4a65659b7fcfcd9d096a0b43473e1cf1d6 100755
--- a/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh
+++ b/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh
@@ -60,6 +60,15 @@ test_expect_success 'upload-pack fails due to error in rev-list' '
 	grep "bad tree object" output.err
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'upload-pack error message when bad ref requested' '
+
+	printf "0045want %s multi_ack_detailed\n00000009done\n0000" \
+		"deadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeef" >input &&
+	test_must_fail git upload-pack . <input >output 2>output.err &&
+	grep -q "not our ref" output.err &&
+	! grep -q multi_ack_detailed output.err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'upload-pack fails due to error in pack-objects enumeration' '
 
 	printf "0032want %s\n00000009done\n0000" \
diff --git a/upload-pack.c b/upload-pack.c
index 8f4c718bfee4d682cf22e8134315aaa84aba171f..fc79ddef255a49176acab52c6492c1086b4e6e44 100644
--- a/upload-pack.c
+++ b/upload-pack.c
@@ -549,7 +549,8 @@ static void receive_needs(void)
 		 */
 		o = lookup_object(sha1_buf);
 		if (!o || !(o->flags & OUR_REF))
-			die("git upload-pack: not our ref %s", line+5);
+			die("git upload-pack: not our ref %s",
+			    sha1_to_hex(sha1_buf));
 		if (!(o->flags & WANTED)) {
 			o->flags |= WANTED;
 			add_object_array(o, NULL, &want_obj);