diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectoryTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectoryTest.java
index be1d8326c..1293bef9a 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectoryTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectoryTest.java
@@ -47,13 +47,18 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FilenameFilter;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 
+import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.JGitText;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.junit.RepositoryTestCase;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ConfigConstants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
@@ -61,10 +66,15 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevCommit;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.FileBasedConfig;
 import org.junit.Assume;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
 
 public class ObjectDirectoryTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
 
+	@Rule
+	public ExpectedException expectedEx = ExpectedException.none();
+
 	@Test
 	public void testConcurrentInsertionOfBlobsToTheSameNewFanOutDirectory()
 			throws Exception {
@@ -171,6 +181,40 @@ public class ObjectDirectoryTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testShallowFile()
+			throws Exception {
+		FileRepository repository = createBareRepository();
+		ObjectDirectory dir = repository.getObjectDatabase();
+
+		String commit = "d3148f9410b071edd4a4c85d2a43d1fa2574b0d2";
+		try (PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(
+				new File(repository.getDirectory(), Constants.SHALLOW))) {
+			writer.println(commit);
+		}
+		Set<ObjectId> shallowCommits = dir.getShallowCommits();
+		assertTrue(shallowCommits.remove(ObjectId.fromString(commit)));
+		assertTrue(shallowCommits.isEmpty());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testShallowFileCorrupt()
+			throws Exception {
+		FileRepository repository = createBareRepository();
+		ObjectDirectory dir = repository.getObjectDatabase();
+
+		String commit = "X3148f9410b071edd4a4c85d2a43d1fa2574b0d2";
+		try (PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(
+				new File(repository.getDirectory(), Constants.SHALLOW))) {
+			writer.println(commit);
+		}
+
+		expectedEx.expect(IOException.class);
+		expectedEx.expectMessage(MessageFormat
+				.format(JGitText.get().badShallowLine, commit));
+		dir.getShallowCommits();
+	}
+
 	private Collection<Callable<ObjectId>> blobInsertersForTheSameFanOutDir(
 			final ObjectDirectory dir) {
 		Callable<ObjectId> callable = new Callable<ObjectId>() {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
index b9b74bfc2..eb6f3a0aa 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ badGroupHeader=Bad group header
 badObjectType=Bad object type: {0}
 badRef=Bad ref: {0}: {1}
 badSectionEntry=Bad section entry: {0}
+badShallowLine=Bad shallow line: {0}
 bareRepositoryNoWorkdirAndIndex=Bare Repository has neither a working tree, nor an index
 base64InputNotProperlyPadded=Base64 input not properly padded.
 baseLengthIncorrect=base length incorrect
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
index ada5bf711..244356c13 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ public class JGitText extends TranslationBundle {
 	/***/ public String badObjectType;
 	/***/ public String badRef;
 	/***/ public String badSectionEntry;
+	/***/ public String badShallowLine;
 	/***/ public String bareRepositoryNoWorkdirAndIndex;
 	/***/ public String base64InputNotProperlyPadded;
 	/***/ public String baseLengthIncorrect;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectory.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectory.java
index ea8052851..c4db19a7e 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectory.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ObjectDirectory.java
@@ -690,8 +690,14 @@ public class ObjectDirectory extends FileObjectDatabase {
 			final BufferedReader reader = open(shallowFile);
 			try {
 				String line;
-				while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null)
-					shallowCommitsIds.add(ObjectId.fromString(line));
+				while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
+					try {
+						shallowCommitsIds.add(ObjectId.fromString(line));
+					} catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
+						throw new IOException(MessageFormat
+								.format(JGitText.get().badShallowLine, line));
+					}
+				}
 			} finally {
 				reader.close();
 			}