diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 0696abfc2a..4c4f8fa194 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -1175,6 +1175,7 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 	int retcode = 0;
 	const struct ref *remote_refs;
 	struct argv_array ref_prefixes = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
+	int must_list_refs = 1;
 
 	if (tags == TAGS_DEFAULT) {
 		if (transport->remote->fetch_tags == 2)
@@ -1190,17 +1191,36 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 			goto cleanup;
 	}
 
-	if (rs->nr)
+	if (rs->nr) {
+		int i;
+
 		refspec_ref_prefixes(rs, &ref_prefixes);
-	else if (transport->remote && transport->remote->fetch.nr)
+
+		/*
+		 * We can avoid listing refs if all of them are exact
+		 * OIDs
+		 */
+		must_list_refs = 0;
+		for (i = 0; i < rs->nr; i++) {
+			if (!rs->items[i].exact_sha1) {
+				must_list_refs = 1;
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+	} else if (transport->remote && transport->remote->fetch.nr)
 		refspec_ref_prefixes(&transport->remote->fetch, &ref_prefixes);
 
-	if (ref_prefixes.argc &&
-	    (tags == TAGS_SET || (tags == TAGS_DEFAULT))) {
-		argv_array_push(&ref_prefixes, "refs/tags/");
+	if (tags == TAGS_SET || tags == TAGS_DEFAULT) {
+		must_list_refs = 1;
+		if (ref_prefixes.argc)
+			argv_array_push(&ref_prefixes, "refs/tags/");
 	}
 
-	remote_refs = transport_get_remote_refs(transport, &ref_prefixes);
+	if (must_list_refs)
+		remote_refs = transport_get_remote_refs(transport, &ref_prefixes);
+	else
+		remote_refs = NULL;
+
 	argv_array_clear(&ref_prefixes);
 
 	ref_map = get_ref_map(transport->remote, remote_refs, rs,
diff --git a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
index 771f36f9ff..12b339d239 100755
--- a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
+++ b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
@@ -381,6 +381,21 @@ test_expect_success 'using fetch command in remote-curl updates refs' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'fetch by SHA-1 without tag following' '
+	SERVER="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/server" &&
+	rm -rf "$SERVER" client &&
+
+	git init "$SERVER" &&
+	test_commit -C "$SERVER" foo &&
+
+	git clone $HTTPD_URL/smart/server client &&
+
+	test_commit -C "$SERVER" bar &&
+	git -C "$SERVER" rev-parse bar >bar_hash &&
+	git -C client -c protocol.version=0 fetch \
+		--no-tags origin $(cat bar_hash)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'GIT_REDACT_COOKIES redacts cookies' '
 	rm -rf clone &&
 	echo "Set-Cookie: Foo=1" >cookies &&
diff --git a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
index e32b5b4e3e..b82b5f8f7e 100755
--- a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
+++ b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
@@ -79,6 +79,19 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch with git:// using protocol v2' '
 	grep "fetch< version 2" log
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'fetch by hash without tag following with protocol v2 does not list refs' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -f log" &&
+
+	test_commit -C "$daemon_parent" two_a &&
+	git -C "$daemon_parent" rev-parse two_a >two_a_hash &&
+
+	GIT_TRACE_PACKET="$(pwd)/log" git -C daemon_child -c protocol.version=2 \
+		fetch --no-tags origin $(cat two_a_hash) &&
+
+	grep "fetch< version 2" log &&
+	! grep "fetch> command=ls-refs" log
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'pull with git:// using protocol v2' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -f log" &&