diff --git a/pretty.c b/pretty.c
index 9788bd8f3f..493edb0a44 100644
--- a/pretty.c
+++ b/pretty.c
@@ -1072,6 +1072,8 @@ static size_t format_commit_one(struct strbuf *sb, /* in UTF-8 */
 	case 'C':
 		if (starts_with(placeholder + 1, "(auto)")) {
 			c->auto_color = want_color(c->pretty_ctx->color);
+			if (c->auto_color)
+				strbuf_addstr(sb, GIT_COLOR_RESET);
 			return 7; /* consumed 7 bytes, "C(auto)" */
 		} else {
 			int ret = parse_color(sb, placeholder, c);
diff --git a/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh b/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh
index a1dcdb81d7..f6020cd2aa 100755
--- a/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh
+++ b/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ test_expect_success '%C(auto,...) respects --color=auto (stdout not tty)' '
 
 test_expect_success '%C(auto) respects --color' '
 	git log --color --format="%C(auto)%H" -1 >actual &&
-	printf "\\033[33m%s\\033[m\\n" $(git rev-parse HEAD) >expect &&
+	printf "\\033[m\\033[33m%s\\033[m\\n" $(git rev-parse HEAD) >expect &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '