diff --git a/builtin/pull.c b/builtin/pull.c
index 1cfaf9f343..9f8a8dd716 100644
--- a/builtin/pull.c
+++ b/builtin/pull.c
@@ -1036,14 +1036,13 @@ int cmd_pull(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		oidclr(&orig_head);
 
 	if (opt_rebase) {
-		int autostash = config_autostash;
-		if (opt_autostash != -1)
-			autostash = opt_autostash;
+		if (opt_autostash == -1)
+			opt_autostash = config_autostash;
 
 		if (is_null_oid(&orig_head) && !is_cache_unborn())
 			die(_("Updating an unborn branch with changes added to the index."));
 
-		if (!autostash)
+		if (!opt_autostash)
 			require_clean_work_tree(the_repository,
 				N_("pull with rebase"),
 				_("please commit or stash them."), 1, 0);
diff --git a/t/t5520-pull.sh b/t/t5520-pull.sh
index 93ecfcdd24..081808009b 100755
--- a/t/t5520-pull.sh
+++ b/t/t5520-pull.sh
@@ -330,6 +330,19 @@ test_expect_success '--rebase --autostash fast forward' '
 	test_cmp_rev HEAD to-rebase-ff
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--rebase with rebase.autostash succeeds on ff' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr src dst actual" &&
+	git init src &&
+	test_commit -C src "initial" file "content" &&
+	git clone src dst &&
+	test_commit -C src --printf "more_content" file "more content\ncontent\n" &&
+	echo "dirty" >>dst/file &&
+	test_config -C dst rebase.autostash true &&
+	git -C dst pull --rebase >actual 2>&1 &&
+	grep -q "Fast-forward" actual &&
+	grep -q "Applied autostash." actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success '--rebase with conflicts shows advice' '
 	test_when_finished "git rebase --abort; git checkout -f to-rebase" &&
 	git checkout -b seq &&