diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java
index d30c1911d..69926f915 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java
@@ -213,6 +213,20 @@ public class ConfigTest {
 		assertFalse(localConfig.get(UserConfig.KEY).isCommitterEmailImplicit());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testReadUserConfigWithInvalidCharactersStripped() {
+		final MockSystemReader mockSystemReader = new MockSystemReader();
+		final Config localConfig = new Config(mockSystemReader.openUserConfig(
+				null, FS.DETECTED));
+
+		localConfig.setString("user", null, "name", "foo<bar");
+		localConfig.setString("user", null, "email", "baz>\nqux@example.com");
+
+		UserConfig userConfig = localConfig.get(UserConfig.KEY);
+		assertEquals("foobar", userConfig.getAuthorName());
+		assertEquals("bazqux@example.com", userConfig.getAuthorEmail());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testReadBoolean_TrueFalse1() throws ConfigInvalidException {
 		final Config c = parse("[s]\na = true\nb = false\n");
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/UserConfig.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/UserConfig.java
index 60b4819ed..60ac6f176 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/UserConfig.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/UserConfig.java
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ public class UserConfig {
 			username = system().getenv(envKey);
 		}
 
-		return username;
+		return stripInvalidCharacters(username);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -204,7 +204,11 @@ public class UserConfig {
 			email = system().getenv(envKey);
 		}
 
-		return email;
+		return stripInvalidCharacters(email);
+	}
+
+	private static String stripInvalidCharacters(String s) {
+		return s == null ? null : s.replaceAll("<|>|\n", ""); //$NON-NLS-1$//$NON-NLS-2$
 	}
 
 	/**