diff --git a/ref-filter.c b/ref-filter.c
index 361beb6619..23e81e3e04 100644
--- a/ref-filter.c
+++ b/ref-filter.c
@@ -2756,7 +2756,7 @@ static int ref_kind_from_refname(const char *refname)
 			return ref_kind[i].kind;
 	}
 
-	if (is_root_ref(get_main_ref_store(the_repository), refname))
+	if (is_root_ref(refname))
 		return FILTER_REFS_PSEUDOREFS;
 
 	return FILTER_REFS_OTHERS;
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index c1c406fc5f..4fec29e660 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ static int is_root_ref_syntax(const char *refname)
 	return 1;
 }
 
-int is_root_ref(struct ref_store *refs, const char *refname)
+int is_root_ref(const char *refname)
 {
 	static const char *const irregular_root_refs[] = {
 		"AUTO_MERGE",
@@ -865,26 +865,17 @@ int is_root_ref(struct ref_store *refs, const char *refname)
 		"NOTES_MERGE_REF",
 		"MERGE_AUTOSTASH",
 	};
-	struct object_id oid;
 	size_t i;
 
 	if (!is_root_ref_syntax(refname))
 		return 0;
 
-	if (ends_with(refname, "_HEAD")) {
-		refs_resolve_ref_unsafe(refs, refname,
-					RESOLVE_REF_READING | RESOLVE_REF_NO_RECURSE,
-					&oid, NULL);
-		return !is_null_oid(&oid);
-	}
+	if (ends_with(refname, "_HEAD"))
+		return 1;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(irregular_root_refs); i++)
-		if (!strcmp(refname, irregular_root_refs[i])) {
-			refs_resolve_ref_unsafe(refs, refname,
-						RESOLVE_REF_READING | RESOLVE_REF_NO_RECURSE,
-						&oid, NULL);
-			return !is_null_oid(&oid);
-		}
+		if (!strcmp(refname, irregular_root_refs[i]))
+			return 1;
 
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/refs.h b/refs.h
index d0374c3275..8a574a22c7 100644
--- a/refs.h
+++ b/refs.h
@@ -1052,7 +1052,8 @@ extern struct ref_namespace_info ref_namespace[NAMESPACE__COUNT];
 void update_ref_namespace(enum ref_namespace namespace, char *ref);
 
 /*
- * Check whether the reference is an existing root reference.
+ * Check whether the provided name names a root reference. This function only
+ * performs a syntactic check.
  *
  * A root ref is a reference that lives in the root of the reference hierarchy.
  * These references must conform to special syntax:
@@ -1076,7 +1077,7 @@ void update_ref_namespace(enum ref_namespace namespace, char *ref);
  *
  *   - MERGE_AUTOSTASH
  */
-int is_root_ref(struct ref_store *refs, const char *refname);
+int is_root_ref(const char *refname);
 
 int is_headref(struct ref_store *refs, const char *refname);
 
diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index 0fcb601444..06240ce327 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -351,8 +351,8 @@ static void add_pseudoref_and_head_entries(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 		strbuf_addstr(&refname, de->d_name);
 
 		dtype = get_dtype(de, &path, 1);
-		if (dtype == DT_REG && (is_root_ref(ref_store, de->d_name) ||
-								is_headref(ref_store, de->d_name)))
+		if (dtype == DT_REG && (is_root_ref(de->d_name) ||
+					is_headref(ref_store, de->d_name)))
 			loose_fill_ref_dir_regular_file(refs, refname.buf, dir);
 
 		strbuf_setlen(&refname, dirnamelen);
diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index 5a5e64fe69..c11ba95736 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ static int reftable_ref_iterator_advance(struct ref_iterator *ref_iterator)
 		 */
 		if (!starts_with(iter->ref.refname, "refs/") &&
 		    !(iter->flags & DO_FOR_EACH_INCLUDE_ROOT_REFS &&
-		     (is_root_ref(&iter->refs->base, iter->ref.refname) ||
+		     (is_root_ref(iter->ref.refname) ||
 		      is_headref(&iter->refs->base, iter->ref.refname)))) {
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/t/t6302-for-each-ref-filter.sh b/t/t6302-for-each-ref-filter.sh
index 948f1bb5f4..92ed8957c8 100755
--- a/t/t6302-for-each-ref-filter.sh
+++ b/t/t6302-for-each-ref-filter.sh
@@ -62,6 +62,23 @@ test_expect_success '--include-root-refs with other patterns' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--include-root-refs omits dangling symrefs' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit initial &&
+		git symbolic-ref DANGLING_HEAD refs/heads/missing &&
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		HEAD
+		$(git symbolic-ref HEAD)
+		refs/tags/initial
+		EOF
+		git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" --include-root-refs >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'filtering with --points-at' '
 	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
 	refs/heads/main