diff --git a/fetch-pack.c b/fetch-pack.c
index 6728a0d2f5..fe1fb3c1b7 100644
--- a/fetch-pack.c
+++ b/fetch-pack.c
@@ -122,16 +122,29 @@ static void for_each_cached_alternate(struct fetch_negotiator *negotiator,
 		cb(negotiator, cache.items[i]);
 }
 
+static void die_in_commit_graph_only(const struct object_id *oid)
+{
+	die(_("You are attempting to fetch %s, which is in the commit graph file but not in the object database.\n"
+	      "This is probably due to repo corruption.\n"
+	      "If you are attempting to repair this repo corruption by refetching the missing object, use 'git fetch --refetch' with the missing object."),
+	      oid_to_hex(oid));
+}
+
 static struct commit *deref_without_lazy_fetch(const struct object_id *oid,
-					       int mark_tags_complete)
+					       int mark_tags_complete_and_check_obj_db)
 {
 	enum object_type type;
 	struct object_info info = { .typep = &type };
 	struct commit *commit;
 
 	commit = lookup_commit_in_graph(the_repository, oid);
-	if (commit)
+	if (commit) {
+		if (mark_tags_complete_and_check_obj_db) {
+			if (!has_object(the_repository, oid, 0))
+				die_in_commit_graph_only(oid);
+		}
 		return commit;
+	}
 
 	while (1) {
 		if (oid_object_info_extended(the_repository, oid, &info,
@@ -143,7 +156,7 @@ static struct commit *deref_without_lazy_fetch(const struct object_id *oid,
 
 			if (!tag->tagged)
 				return NULL;
-			if (mark_tags_complete)
+			if (mark_tags_complete_and_check_obj_db)
 				tag->object.flags |= COMPLETE;
 			oid = &tag->tagged->oid;
 		} else {
diff --git a/t/t5330-no-lazy-fetch-with-commit-graph.sh b/t/t5330-no-lazy-fetch-with-commit-graph.sh
index 5eb28f0512..21f36eb8c3 100755
--- a/t/t5330-no-lazy-fetch-with-commit-graph.sh
+++ b/t/t5330-no-lazy-fetch-with-commit-graph.sh
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch any commit from promisor with the usage of the commit
 	git -C with-commit-graph config remote.origin.partialclonefilter blob:none &&
 	test_commit -C with-commit any-commit &&
 	anycommit=$(git -C with-commit rev-parse HEAD) &&
-	GIT_TRACE="$(pwd)/trace.txt" \
+	test_must_fail env GIT_TRACE="$(pwd)/trace.txt" \
 		git -C with-commit-graph fetch origin $anycommit 2>err &&
-	! grep "fatal: promisor-remote: unable to fork off fetch subprocess" err &&
+	test_grep ! "fatal: promisor-remote: unable to fork off fetch subprocess" err &&
 	grep "git fetch origin" trace.txt >actual &&
 	test_line_count = 1 actual
 '