diff --git a/fsck.c b/fsck.c
index 9339f31513..35af51553d 100644
--- a/fsck.c
+++ b/fsck.c
@@ -1032,7 +1032,8 @@ int fsck_finish(struct fsck_options *options)
 
 		blob = lookup_blob(oid);
 		if (!blob) {
-			ret |= report(options, &blob->object,
+			struct object *obj = lookup_unknown_object(oid->hash);
+			ret |= report(options, obj,
 				      FSCK_MSG_GITMODULES_BLOB,
 				      "non-blob found at .gitmodules");
 			continue;
diff --git a/t/t7415-submodule-names.sh b/t/t7415-submodule-names.sh
index 541bd81684..3c0f1a102a 100755
--- a/t/t7415-submodule-names.sh
+++ b/t/t7415-submodule-names.sh
@@ -148,4 +148,22 @@ test_expect_success 'fsck detects symlinked .gitmodules file' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'fsck detects non-blob .gitmodules' '
+	git init non-blob &&
+	(
+		cd non-blob &&
+
+		# As above, make the funny tree directly to avoid index
+		# restrictions.
+		mkdir subdir &&
+		cp ../.gitmodules subdir/file &&
+		git add subdir/file &&
+		git commit -m ok &&
+		git ls-tree HEAD | sed s/subdir/.gitmodules/ | git mktree &&
+
+		test_must_fail git fsck 2>output &&
+		grep gitmodulesBlob output
+	)
+'
+
 test_done