diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheTree.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheTree.java
index 5acde4385..30932e827 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheTree.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheTree.java
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ final boolean contains(final byte[] a, int aOff, final int aLen) {
 	 */
 	void validate(final DirCacheEntry[] cache, final int cCnt, int cIdx,
 			final int pathOff) {
-		if (entrySpan >= 0) {
+		if (entrySpan >= 0 && cIdx + entrySpan <= cCnt) {
 			// If we are valid, our children are also valid.
 			// We have no need to validate them.
 			//