diff --git a/remote-curl.c b/remote-curl.c
index f14c41f4c0..ee4423659f 100644
--- a/remote-curl.c
+++ b/remote-curl.c
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ struct rpc_state {
 	size_t pos;
 	int in;
 	int out;
+	int any_written;
 	struct strbuf result;
 	unsigned gzip_request : 1;
 	unsigned initial_buffer : 1;
@@ -456,6 +457,8 @@ static size_t rpc_in(char *ptr, size_t eltsize,
 {
 	size_t size = eltsize * nmemb;
 	struct rpc_state *rpc = buffer_;
+	if (size)
+		rpc->any_written = 1;
 	write_or_die(rpc->in, ptr, size);
 	return size;
 }
@@ -659,6 +662,8 @@ retry:
 	curl_easy_setopt(slot->curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, rpc_in);
 	curl_easy_setopt(slot->curl, CURLOPT_FILE, rpc);
 
+
+	rpc->any_written = 0;
 	err = run_slot(slot, NULL);
 	if (err == HTTP_REAUTH && !large_request) {
 		credential_fill(&http_auth);
@@ -667,6 +672,9 @@ retry:
 	if (err != HTTP_OK)
 		err = -1;
 
+	if (!rpc->any_written)
+		err = -1;
+
 	curl_slist_free_all(headers);
 	free(gzip_body);
 	return err;
diff --git a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
index 1ec5b2747a..43665ab4a8 100755
--- a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
+++ b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
@@ -276,6 +276,36 @@ test_expect_success 'large fetch-pack requests can be split across POSTs' '
 	test_line_count = 2 posts
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'test allowreachablesha1inwant' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf test_reachable.git" &&
+	server="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo.git" &&
+	master_sha=$(git -C "$server" rev-parse refs/heads/master) &&
+	git -C "$server" config uploadpack.allowreachablesha1inwant 1 &&
+
+	git init --bare test_reachable.git &&
+	git -C test_reachable.git remote add origin "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" &&
+	git -C test_reachable.git fetch origin "$master_sha"
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'test allowreachablesha1inwant with unreachable' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf test_reachable.git; git reset --hard $(git rev-parse HEAD)" &&
+
+	#create unreachable sha
+	echo content >file2 &&
+	git add file2 &&
+	git commit -m two &&
+	git push public HEAD:refs/heads/doomed &&
+	git push public :refs/heads/doomed &&
+
+	server="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo.git" &&
+	master_sha=$(git -C "$server" rev-parse refs/heads/master) &&
+	git -C "$server" config uploadpack.allowreachablesha1inwant 1 &&
+
+	git init --bare test_reachable.git &&
+	git -C test_reachable.git remote add origin "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" &&
+	test_must_fail git -C test_reachable.git fetch origin "$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
+'
+
 test_expect_success EXPENSIVE 'http can handle enormous ref negotiation' '
 	(
 		cd "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo.git" &&