diff --git a/attr.c b/attr.c
index a5b717e4ce..c89ab3478e 100644
--- a/attr.c
+++ b/attr.c
@@ -1227,6 +1227,12 @@ static int compute_default_attr_source(struct object_id *attr_source)
 	if (!default_attr_source_tree_object_name)
 		return 0;
 
+	if (!startup_info->have_repository) {
+		if (!ignore_bad_attr_tree)
+			die(_("cannot use --attr-source or GIT_ATTR_SOURCE without repo"));
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (repo_get_oid_treeish(the_repository,
 				 default_attr_source_tree_object_name,
 				 attr_source)) {
diff --git a/t/t0003-attributes.sh b/t/t0003-attributes.sh
index d755cc3c29..72fadca1e8 100755
--- a/t/t0003-attributes.sh
+++ b/t/t0003-attributes.sh
@@ -434,6 +434,21 @@ test_expect_success 'precedence of --attr-source, GIT_ATTR_SOURCE, then attr.tre
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'diff without repository with attr source' '
+	mkdir -p "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/outside/nongit" &&
+	(
+		cd "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/outside/nongit" &&
+		GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES="$TRASH_DIRECTORY/outside" &&
+		export GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES &&
+		touch file &&
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		fatal: cannot use --attr-source or GIT_ATTR_SOURCE without repo
+		EOF
+		test_must_fail env GIT_ATTR_SOURCE=HEAD git grep --no-index foo file 2>err &&
+		test_cmp expect err
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'bare repository: with --source' '
 	(
 		cd bare.git &&