diff --git a/Documentation/fsck-msgids.adoc b/Documentation/fsck-msgids.adoc
index 9601fff228..0ba4f9a27e 100644
--- a/Documentation/fsck-msgids.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/fsck-msgids.adoc
@@ -59,6 +59,12 @@
 `emptyName`::
 	(WARN) A path contains an empty name.
 
+`emptyPackedRefsFile`::
+	(INFO) "packed-refs" file is empty. Report to the
+	git@vger.kernel.org mailing list if you see this error. As only
+	very early versions of Git would create such an empty
+	"packed_refs" file, we might tighten this rule in the future.
+
 `extraHeaderEntry`::
 	(IGNORE) Extra headers found after `tagger`.
 
diff --git a/fsck.h b/fsck.h
index b1deae61ee..0c5869ac34 100644
--- a/fsck.h
+++ b/fsck.h
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ enum fsck_msg_type {
 	FUNC(LARGE_PATHNAME, WARN) \
 	/* infos (reported as warnings, but ignored by default) */ \
 	FUNC(BAD_FILEMODE, INFO) \
+	FUNC(EMPTY_PACKED_REFS_FILE, INFO) \
 	FUNC(GITMODULES_PARSE, INFO) \
 	FUNC(GITIGNORE_SYMLINK, INFO) \
 	FUNC(GITATTRIBUTES_SYMLINK, INFO) \
diff --git a/refs/packed-backend.c b/refs/packed-backend.c
index 3ad1ed0787..fb91833e76 100644
--- a/refs/packed-backend.c
+++ b/refs/packed-backend.c
@@ -2103,6 +2103,15 @@ static int packed_fsck(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
+	if (!st.st_size) {
+		struct fsck_ref_report report = { 0 };
+		report.path = "packed-refs";
+		ret = fsck_report_ref(o, &report,
+				      FSCK_MSG_EMPTY_PACKED_REFS_FILE,
+				      "file is empty");
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
 	if (strbuf_read(&packed_ref_content, fd, 0) < 0) {
 		ret = error_errno(_("unable to read '%s'"), refs->path);
 		goto cleanup;
diff --git a/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh b/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh
index 9d1dc2144c..f671ac4d3a 100755
--- a/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh
+++ b/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh
@@ -647,6 +647,23 @@ test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'the filetype of packed-refs should be checked' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'empty packed-refs should be reported' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit default &&
+
+		>.git/packed-refs &&
+		git refs verify 2>err &&
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		warning: packed-refs: emptyPackedRefsFile: file is empty
+		EOF
+		rm .git/packed-refs &&
+		test_cmp expect err
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'packed-refs header should be checked' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
 	git init repo &&