diff --git a/reachable.c b/reachable.c
index 69fa6851da..4cfd0dec70 100644
--- a/reachable.c
+++ b/reachable.c
@@ -24,9 +24,15 @@ static void update_progress(struct connectivity_progress *cp)
 
 static int add_one_ref(const char *path, const unsigned char *sha1, int flag, void *cb_data)
 {
-	struct object *object = parse_object_or_die(sha1, path);
 	struct rev_info *revs = (struct rev_info *)cb_data;
+	struct object *object;
 
+	if ((flag & REF_ISSYMREF) && (flag & REF_ISBROKEN)) {
+		warning("symbolic ref is dangling: %s", path);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	object = parse_object_or_die(sha1, path);
 	add_pending_object(revs, object, "");
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/t/t6500-gc.sh b/t/t6500-gc.sh
index ed22dcc76f..5d7d414617 100755
--- a/t/t6500-gc.sh
+++ b/t/t6500-gc.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ test_expect_success 'gc -h with invalid configuration' '
 	test_i18ngrep "[Uu]sage" broken/usage
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'gc is not aborted due to a stale symref' '
+test_expect_success 'gc is not aborted due to a stale symref' '
 	git init remote &&
 	(
 		cd remote &&