diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index 867cf9f899..70b2c829fd 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -1252,6 +1252,16 @@ const char *resolve_ref_unsafe(const char *refname, unsigned char *sha1, int rea
 
 		git_snpath(path, sizeof(path), "%s", refname);
 
+		/*
+		 * We might have to loop back here to avoid a race
+		 * condition: first we lstat() the file, then we try
+		 * to read it as a link or as a file.  But if somebody
+		 * changes the type of the file (file <-> directory
+		 * <-> symlink) between the lstat() and reading, then
+		 * we don't want to report that as an error but rather
+		 * try again starting with the lstat().
+		 */
+	stat_ref:
 		if (lstat(path, &st) < 0) {
 			if (errno == ENOENT)
 				return handle_missing_loose_ref(refname, sha1,
@@ -1263,8 +1273,13 @@ const char *resolve_ref_unsafe(const char *refname, unsigned char *sha1, int rea
 		/* Follow "normalized" - ie "refs/.." symlinks by hand */
 		if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) {
 			len = readlink(path, buffer, sizeof(buffer)-1);
-			if (len < 0)
-				return NULL;
+			if (len < 0) {
+				if (errno == ENOENT || errno == EINVAL)
+					/* inconsistent with lstat; retry */
+					goto stat_ref;
+				else
+					return NULL;
+			}
 			buffer[len] = 0;
 			if (!prefixcmp(buffer, "refs/") &&
 					!check_refname_format(buffer, 0)) {
@@ -1287,8 +1302,13 @@ const char *resolve_ref_unsafe(const char *refname, unsigned char *sha1, int rea
 		 * a ref
 		 */
 		fd = open(path, O_RDONLY);
-		if (fd < 0)
-			return NULL;
+		if (fd < 0) {
+			if (errno == ENOENT)
+				/* inconsistent with lstat; retry */
+				goto stat_ref;
+			else
+				return NULL;
+		}
 		len = read_in_full(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer)-1);
 		close(fd);
 		if (len < 0)