diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index 27c1a05246c21278a730698bd7de85eccc96d721..07dea3bc814ba26edd13a0e3ae73b3298958c3e9 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -567,8 +567,10 @@ static int merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			o.ancestor = old->name;
 			o.branch1 = new->name;
 			o.branch2 = "local";
-			merge_trees(&o, new->commit->tree, work,
+			ret = merge_trees(&o, new->commit->tree, work,
 				old->commit->tree, &result);
+			if (ret < 0)
+				exit(128);
 			ret = reset_tree(new->commit->tree, opts, 0,
 					 writeout_error);
 			if (ret)
diff --git a/builtin/merge.c b/builtin/merge.c
index 19b3bc2f2fafe08d5ec03ab493d9d8f189db275b..148a9a51b9eb45b0b5113680aaf6a71c5db60e09 100644
--- a/builtin/merge.c
+++ b/builtin/merge.c
@@ -673,6 +673,8 @@ static int try_merge_strategy(const char *strategy, struct commit_list *common,
 		hold_locked_index(&lock, 1);
 		clean = merge_recursive(&o, head,
 				remoteheads->item, reversed, &result);
+		if (clean < 0)
+			exit(128);
 		if (active_cache_changed &&
 		    write_locked_index(&the_index, &lock, COMMIT_LOCK))
 			die (_("unable to write %s"), get_index_file());
diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
index cdfac82b117e9ff1084f3fbe36eeb85f45ce056c..286a4358520429bc8433eaf192beca9690c71ade 100644
--- a/sequencer.c
+++ b/sequencer.c
@@ -293,6 +293,8 @@ static int do_recursive_merge(struct commit *base, struct commit *next,
 	clean = merge_trees(&o,
 			    head_tree,
 			    next_tree, base_tree, &result);
+	if (clean < 0)
+		return clean;
 
 	if (active_cache_changed &&
 	    write_locked_index(&the_index, &index_lock, COMMIT_LOCK))
@@ -559,6 +561,8 @@ static int do_pick_commit(struct commit *commit, struct replay_opts *opts)
 	if (!opts->strategy || !strcmp(opts->strategy, "recursive") || opts->action == REPLAY_REVERT) {
 		res = do_recursive_merge(base, next, base_label, next_label,
 					 head, &msgbuf, opts);
+		if (res < 0)
+			return res;
 		write_message(&msgbuf, git_path_merge_msg());
 	} else {
 		struct commit_list *common = NULL;