diff --git a/commit-graph.c b/commit-graph.c
index a26d266663..34ecaaf857 100644
--- a/commit-graph.c
+++ b/commit-graph.c
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ static int prepare_commit_graph(struct repository *r)
 	struct object_directory *odb;
 	int config_value;
 
+	if (git_env_bool(GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH_DIE_ON_LOAD, 0))
+		die("dying as requested by the '%s' variable on commit-graph load!",
+		    GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH_DIE_ON_LOAD);
+
 	if (r->objects->commit_graph_attempted)
 		return !!r->objects->commit_graph;
 	r->objects->commit_graph_attempted = 1;
@@ -575,7 +579,7 @@ static void write_graph_chunk_data(struct hashfile *f, int hash_len,
 		uint32_t packedDate[2];
 		display_progress(progress, ++*progress_cnt);
 
-		parse_commit(*list);
+		parse_commit_no_graph(*list);
 		hashwrite(f, get_commit_tree_oid(*list)->hash, hash_len);
 
 		parent = (*list)->parents;
@@ -772,7 +776,7 @@ static void close_reachable(struct packed_oid_list *oids, int report_progress)
 		display_progress(progress, i + 1);
 		commit = lookup_commit(the_repository, &oids->list[i]);
 
-		if (commit && !parse_commit(commit))
+		if (commit && !parse_commit_no_graph(commit))
 			add_missing_parents(oids, commit);
 	}
 	stop_progress(&progress);
@@ -1021,7 +1025,7 @@ void write_commit_graph(const char *obj_dir,
 			continue;
 
 		commits.list[commits.nr] = lookup_commit(the_repository, &oids.list[i]);
-		parse_commit(commits.list[commits.nr]);
+		parse_commit_no_graph(commits.list[commits.nr]);
 
 		for (parent = commits.list[commits.nr]->parents;
 		     parent; parent = parent->next)
diff --git a/commit-graph.h b/commit-graph.h
index ada7aea9ed..7dfb8c896f 100644
--- a/commit-graph.h
+++ b/commit-graph.h
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include "cache.h"
 
 #define GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH "GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH"
+#define GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH_DIE_ON_LOAD "GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH_DIE_ON_LOAD"
 
 struct commit;
 
diff --git a/commit.h b/commit.h
index 42728c2906..5d33477e78 100644
--- a/commit.h
+++ b/commit.h
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@ static inline int repo_parse_commit(struct repository *r, struct commit *item)
 {
 	return repo_parse_commit_gently(r, item, 0);
 }
+
+static inline int parse_commit_no_graph(struct commit *commit)
+{
+	return repo_parse_commit_internal(the_repository, commit, 0, 0);
+}
+
 #ifndef NO_THE_REPOSITORY_COMPATIBILITY_MACROS
 #define parse_commit_internal(item, quiet, use) repo_parse_commit_internal(the_repository, item, quiet, use)
 #define parse_commit_gently(item, quiet) repo_parse_commit_gently(the_repository, item, quiet)
diff --git a/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh b/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh
index 4601732b99..e80c1cac02 100755
--- a/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh
+++ b/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh
@@ -377,7 +377,13 @@ corrupt_graph_verify() {
 	test_must_fail git commit-graph verify 2>test_err &&
 	grep -v "^+" test_err >err &&
 	test_i18ngrep "$grepstr" err &&
-	git status --short
+	if test "$2" != "no-copy"
+	then
+		cp $objdir/info/commit-graph commit-graph-pre-write-test
+	fi &&
+	git status --short &&
+	GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH_DIE_ON_LOAD=true git commit-graph write &&
+	git commit-graph verify
 }
 
 # usage: corrupt_graph_and_verify <position> <data> <string> [<zero_pos>]
@@ -403,7 +409,7 @@ corrupt_graph_and_verify() {
 test_expect_success POSIXPERM,SANITY 'detect permission problem' '
 	corrupt_graph_setup &&
 	chmod 000 $objdir/info/commit-graph &&
-	corrupt_graph_verify "Could not open"
+	corrupt_graph_verify "Could not open" "no-copy"
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'detect too small' '
@@ -522,6 +528,7 @@ test_expect_success 'git fsck (checks commit-graph)' '
 	git fsck &&
 	corrupt_graph_and_verify $GRAPH_BYTE_FOOTER "\00" \
 		"incorrect checksum" &&
+	cp commit-graph-pre-write-test $objdir/info/commit-graph &&
 	test_must_fail git fsck
 '