diff --git a/Annex.hs b/Annex.hs
index 14890c58c0..96d55452ee 100644
--- a/Annex.hs
+++ b/Annex.hs
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ data AnnexState = AnnexState
 	, cachedcurrentbranch :: (Maybe (Maybe Git.Branch, Maybe Adjustment))
 	, cachedgitenv :: Maybe (AltIndexFile, FilePath, [(String, String)])
 	, urloptions :: Maybe UrlOptions
+	, insmudgecleanfilter :: Bool
 	}
 
 newState :: GitConfig -> Git.Repo -> IO AnnexState
@@ -209,6 +210,7 @@ newState c r = do
 		, cachedcurrentbranch = Nothing
 		, cachedgitenv = Nothing
 		, urloptions = Nothing
+		, insmudgecleanfilter = False
 		}
 
 {- Makes an Annex state object for the specified git repo.
diff --git a/Annex/Link.hs b/Annex/Link.hs
index 59f79e838b..74990022ca 100644
--- a/Annex/Link.hs
+++ b/Annex/Link.hs
@@ -177,12 +177,18 @@ newtype Restage = Restage Bool
 restagePointerFile :: Restage -> RawFilePath -> InodeCache -> Annex ()
 restagePointerFile (Restage False) f _ =
 	toplevelWarning True $ unableToRestage $ Just $ fromRawFilePath f
-restagePointerFile (Restage True) f orig = withTSDelta $ \tsd -> do
-	-- update-index is documented as picky about "./file" and it
-	-- fails on "../../repo/path/file" when cwd is not in the repo 
-	-- being acted on. Avoid these problems with an absolute path.
-	absf <- liftIO $ absPath $ fromRawFilePath f
-	Annex.Queue.addInternalAction runner [(absf, isunmodified tsd)]
+restagePointerFile (Restage True) f orig = withTSDelta $ \tsd ->
+	-- Avoid refreshing the index if run by the
+	-- smudge clean filter, because git uses that when
+	-- it's already refreshing the index, probably because
+	-- this very action is running. Running it again would likely
+	-- deadlock.
+	unlessM (Annex.getState Annex.insmudgecleanfilter) $ do
+		-- update-index is documented as picky about "./file" and it
+		-- fails on "../../repo/path/file" when cwd is not in the repo 
+		-- being acted on. Avoid these problems with an absolute path.
+		absf <- liftIO $ absPath $ fromRawFilePath f
+		Annex.Queue.addInternalAction runner [(absf, isunmodified tsd)]
   where
 	isunmodified tsd = genInodeCache f tsd >>= return . \case
 		Nothing -> False
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 9845cf7737..673e75001b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+git-annex (8.20200618) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
+
+  * Fix a deadlock that could occur after git-annex got an unlocked
+    file, causing the command to hang indefinitely. Known to happen on 
+    vfat filesystems, possibly others.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Thu, 18 Jun 2020 12:21:14 -0400
+
 git-annex (8.20200617) upstream; urgency=medium
 
   * Added annex.skipunknown git config, that can be set to false to change
diff --git a/Command/Smudge.hs b/Command/Smudge.hs
index 6b20ad3fee..75f0627c5a 100644
--- a/Command/Smudge.hs
+++ b/Command/Smudge.hs
@@ -88,18 +88,23 @@ clean file = do
 	b <- liftIO $ L.hGetContents stdin
 	ifM fileoutsiderepo
 		( liftIO $ L.hPut stdout b
-		, case parseLinkTargetOrPointerLazy b of
-			Just k -> do
-				getMoveRaceRecovery k (toRawFilePath file)
-				liftIO $ L.hPut stdout b
-			Nothing -> do
-				let fileref = Git.Ref.fileRef (toRawFilePath file)
-				indexmeta <- catObjectMetaData fileref
-				go b indexmeta =<< catKey' fileref indexmeta
+		, do
+			-- Avoid a potential deadlock.
+			Annex.changeState $ \s -> s
+				{ Annex.insmudgecleanfilter = True }
+			go b
 		)
 	stop
   where
-	go b indexmeta oldkey = ifM (shouldAnnex file indexmeta oldkey)
+	go b = case parseLinkTargetOrPointerLazy b of
+		Just k -> do
+			getMoveRaceRecovery k (toRawFilePath file)
+			liftIO $ L.hPut stdout b
+		Nothing -> do
+			let fileref = Git.Ref.fileRef (toRawFilePath file)
+			indexmeta <- catObjectMetaData fileref
+			go' b indexmeta =<< catKey' fileref indexmeta
+	go' b indexmeta oldkey = ifM (shouldAnnex file indexmeta oldkey)
 		( do
 			-- Before git 2.5, failing to consume all stdin here
 			-- would cause a SIGPIPE and crash it.