diff --git a/builtin/fsck.c b/builtin/fsck.c
index 0196c54eb68ee5..a10e52b6014927 100644
--- a/builtin/fsck.c
+++ b/builtin/fsck.c
@@ -902,6 +902,32 @@ static int check_pack_rev_indexes(struct repository *r, int show_progress)
 	return res;
 }
 
+static void fsck_refs(void)
+{
+	struct child_process refs_verify = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+	struct progress *progress = NULL;
+
+	if (show_progress)
+		progress = start_progress(_("Checking ref database"), 1);
+
+	if (verbose)
+		fprintf_ln(stderr, _("Checking ref database"));
+
+	child_process_init(&refs_verify);
+	refs_verify.git_cmd = 1;
+	strvec_pushl(&refs_verify.args, "refs", "verify", NULL);
+	if (verbose)
+		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--verbose");
+	if (check_strict)
+		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--strict");
+
+	if (run_command(&refs_verify))
+		errors_found |= ERROR_REFS;
+
+	display_progress(progress, 1);
+	stop_progress(&progress);
+}
+
 static char const * const fsck_usage[] = {
 	N_("git fsck [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]\n"
 	   "         [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found]\n"
@@ -967,6 +993,8 @@ int cmd_fsck(int argc,
 	git_config(git_fsck_config, &fsck_obj_options);
 	prepare_repo_settings(the_repository);
 
+	fsck_refs();
+
 	if (connectivity_only) {
 		for_each_loose_object(mark_loose_for_connectivity, NULL, 0);
 		for_each_packed_object(the_repository,