diff --git a/Git/DiffTree.hs b/Git/DiffTree.hs
index 5981ed1a2a..3ea14a15f6 100644
--- a/Git/DiffTree.hs
+++ b/Git/DiffTree.hs
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ diffIndex' :: Ref -> [CommandParam] -> Repo -> IO ([DiffTreeItem], IO Bool)
 diffIndex' ref params repo =
 	ifM (Git.Ref.headExists repo)
 		( getdiff (Param "diff-index")
-			( params ++ [Param $ fromRef ref] )
+			( params ++ [Param $ fromRef ref] ++ [Param "--"] )
 			repo
 		, return ([], return True)
 		)
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index df55fb468d..11664bab96 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ git-annex (5.20141232) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Generate shorter keys for WORM and URL, avoiding keys that are longer
     than used for SHA256, so as to not break on systems like Windows that
     have very small maximum path length limits.
+  * Bugfix: A file named HEAD in the work tree could confuse some git commands
+    run by git-annex.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Fri, 02 Jan 2015 13:35:13 -0400