diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 4b7a439253..89aa4f6c7e 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ extern void verify_non_filename(const char *prefix, const char *name);
 /* Initialize and use the cache information */
 extern int read_cache(void);
 extern int write_cache(int newfd, struct cache_entry **cache, int entries);
+extern int verify_path(const char *path);
 extern int cache_name_pos(const char *name, int namelen);
 #define ADD_CACHE_OK_TO_ADD 1		/* Ok to add */
 #define ADD_CACHE_OK_TO_REPLACE 2	/* Ok to replace file/directory */
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index a917ab0cfe..e8fa6d0812 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -331,6 +331,70 @@ int ce_path_match(const struct cache_entry *ce, const char **pathspec)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * We fundamentally don't like some paths: we don't want
+ * dot or dot-dot anywhere, and for obvious reasons don't
+ * want to recurse into ".git" either.
+ *
+ * Also, we don't want double slashes or slashes at the
+ * end that can make pathnames ambiguous.
+ */
+static int verify_dotfile(const char *rest)
+{
+	/*
+	 * The first character was '.', but that
+	 * has already been discarded, we now test
+	 * the rest.
+	 */
+	switch (*rest) {
+	/* "." is not allowed */
+	case '\0': case '/':
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * ".git" followed by  NUL or slash is bad. This
+	 * shares the path end test with the ".." case.
+	 */
+	case 'g':
+		if (rest[1] != 'i')
+			break;
+		if (rest[2] != 't')
+			break;
+		rest += 2;
+	/* fallthrough */
+	case '.':
+		if (rest[1] == '\0' || rest[1] == '/')
+			return 0;
+	}
+	return 1;
+}
+
+int verify_path(const char *path)
+{
+	char c;
+
+	goto inside;
+	for (;;) {
+		if (!c)
+			return 1;
+		if (c == '/') {
+inside:
+			c = *path++;
+			switch (c) {
+			default:
+				continue;
+			case '/': case '\0':
+				break;
+			case '.':
+				if (verify_dotfile(path))
+					continue;
+			}
+			return 0;
+		}
+		c = *path++;
+	}
+}
+
 /*
  * Do we have another file that has the beginning components being a
  * proper superset of the name we're trying to add?
@@ -472,6 +536,8 @@ int add_cache_entry(struct cache_entry *ce, int option)
 
 	if (!ok_to_add)
 		return -1;
+	if (!verify_path(ce->name))
+		return -1;
 
 	if (!skip_df_check &&
 	    check_file_directory_conflict(ce, pos, ok_to_replace)) {
diff --git a/update-index.c b/update-index.c
index 3d7e02db2c..859efc7916 100644
--- a/update-index.c
+++ b/update-index.c
@@ -237,70 +237,6 @@ static int refresh_cache(int really)
 	return has_errors;
 }
 
-/*
- * We fundamentally don't like some paths: we don't want
- * dot or dot-dot anywhere, and for obvious reasons don't
- * want to recurse into ".git" either.
- *
- * Also, we don't want double slashes or slashes at the
- * end that can make pathnames ambiguous.
- */
-static int verify_dotfile(const char *rest)
-{
-	/*
-	 * The first character was '.', but that
-	 * has already been discarded, we now test
-	 * the rest.
-	 */
-	switch (*rest) {
-	/* "." is not allowed */
-	case '\0': case '/':
-		return 0;
-
-	/*
-	 * ".git" followed by  NUL or slash is bad. This
-	 * shares the path end test with the ".." case.
-	 */
-	case 'g':
-		if (rest[1] != 'i')
-			break;
-		if (rest[2] != 't')
-			break;
-		rest += 2;
-	/* fallthrough */
-	case '.':
-		if (rest[1] == '\0' || rest[1] == '/')
-			return 0;
-	}
-	return 1;
-}
-
-static int verify_path(const char *path)
-{
-	char c;
-
-	goto inside;
-	for (;;) {
-		if (!c)
-			return 1;
-		if (c == '/') {
-inside:
-			c = *path++;
-			switch (c) {
-			default:
-				continue;
-			case '/': case '\0':
-				break;
-			case '.':
-				if (verify_dotfile(path))
-					continue;
-			}
-			return 0;
-		}
-		c = *path++;
-	}
-}
-
 static int add_cacheinfo(unsigned int mode, const unsigned char *sha1,
 			 const char *path, int stage)
 {