1 files changed, 5 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/builtin/tag.c b/builtin/tag.c
index 391160cf83..1e27f5c3d6 100644
--- a/builtin/tag.c
+++ b/builtin/tag.c
@@ -93,8 +93,12 @@ static void show_tag_lines(const unsigned char *sha1, int lines)
 	size_t len;
 
 	buf = read_sha1_file(sha1, &type, &size);
-	if (!buf || !size)
+	if (!buf)
+		die_errno("unable to read object %s", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
+	if (!size) {
+		free(buf);
 		return;
+	}
 
 	/* skip header */
 	sp = strstr(buf, "\n\n");