diff --git a/builtin/apply.c b/builtin/apply.c
index 30eefc3c7b..3979f8bf3d 100644
--- a/builtin/apply.c
+++ b/builtin/apply.c
@@ -906,7 +906,7 @@ static void parse_traditional_patch(const char *first, const char *second, struc
 			patch->old_name = name;
 		} else {
 			patch->old_name = name;
-			patch->new_name = xstrdup(name);
+			patch->new_name = null_strdup(name);
 		}
 	}
 	if (!name)
diff --git a/t/t4111-apply-subdir.sh b/t/t4111-apply-subdir.sh
index 7c398432ba..1618a6dbc7 100755
--- a/t/t4111-apply-subdir.sh
+++ b/t/t4111-apply-subdir.sh
@@ -86,6 +86,20 @@ test_expect_success 'apply --index from subdir of toplevel' '
 	test_cmp expected sub/dir/file
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'apply half-broken patch from subdir of toplevel' '
+	(
+		cd sub/dir &&
+		test_must_fail git apply <<-EOF
+		--- sub/dir/file
+		+++ sub/dir/file
+		@@ -1,0 +1,0 @@
+		--- file_in_root
+		+++ file_in_root
+		@@ -1,0 +1,0 @@
+		EOF
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'apply from .git dir' '
 	cp postimage expected &&
 	cp preimage .git/file &&