diff --git a/src/remote.c b/src/remote.c
index 47bcaf95f..a873a27b6 100644
--- a/src/remote.c
+++ b/src/remote.c
@@ -131,6 +131,12 @@ int git_remote_load(git_remote **out, git_repository *repo, const char *name)
 
 	if ((error = git_config_get_string(&val, config, git_buf_cstr(&buf))) < 0)
 		goto cleanup;
+	
+	if (!val) {
+		giterr_set(GITERR_INVALID, "Malformed remote '%s' - missing URL", name);
+		error = -1;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
 
 	remote->repo = repo;
 	remote->url = git__strdup(val);
diff --git a/tests-clar/network/remotes.c b/tests-clar/network/remotes.c
index 21a3aaa41..1d58aba75 100644
--- a/tests-clar/network/remotes.c
+++ b/tests-clar/network/remotes.c
@@ -183,13 +183,13 @@ void test_network_remotes__list(void)
 	git_config *cfg;
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_remote_list(&list, _repo));
-	cl_assert(list.count == 3);
+	cl_assert(list.count == 4);
 	git_strarray_free(&list);
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_repository_config(&cfg, _repo));
 	cl_git_pass(git_config_set_string(cfg, "remote.specless.url", "http://example.com"));
 	cl_git_pass(git_remote_list(&list, _repo));
-	cl_assert(list.count == 4);
+	cl_assert(list.count == 5);
 	git_strarray_free(&list);
 
 	git_config_free(cfg);
@@ -269,3 +269,11 @@ void test_network_remotes__tagopt(void)
 
 	git_config_free(cfg);
 }
+
+void test_network_remotes__cannot_load_with_an_empty_url(void)
+{
+	git_remote *remote;
+
+	cl_git_fail(git_remote_load(&remote, _repo, "empty-remote-url"));
+	cl_assert(giterr_last()->klass == GITERR_INVALID);
+}
diff --git a/tests-clar/resources/testrepo.git/config b/tests-clar/resources/testrepo.git/config
index 54ff6109b..3801ce08d 100644
--- a/tests-clar/resources/testrepo.git/config
+++ b/tests-clar/resources/testrepo.git/config
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 	fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/test/*
 [remote "joshaber"]
 	url = git://github.com/libgit2/libgit2
+[remote "empty-remote-url"]
+	url = 
 
 [remote "test_with_pushurl"]
 	url = git://github.com/libgit2/fetchlibgit2