diff --git a/builtin/symbolic-ref.c b/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
index ce0fde705c0..9c29a64e433 100644
--- a/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ int cmd_symbolic_ref(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (!strcmp(argv[0], "HEAD") &&
 		    !starts_with(argv[1], "refs/"))
 			die("Refusing to point HEAD outside of refs/");
-		create_symref(argv[0], argv[1], msg);
+		ret = !!create_symref(argv[0], argv[1], msg);
 		break;
 	default:
 		usage_with_options(git_symbolic_ref_usage, options);
diff --git a/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh b/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh
index 20b022ae339..1f0dff3a0b1 100755
--- a/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh
@@ -92,4 +92,26 @@ test_expect_success LONG_REF 'we can parse long symbolic ref' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref reports failure in exit code' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -f .git/HEAD.lock" &&
+	>.git/HEAD.lock &&
+	test_must_fail git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/whatever
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref writes reflog entry' '
+	git checkout -b log1 &&
+	test_commit one &&
+	git checkout -b log2  &&
+	test_commit two &&
+	git checkout --orphan orphan &&
+	git symbolic-ref -m create HEAD refs/heads/log1 &&
+	git symbolic-ref -m update HEAD refs/heads/log2 &&
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	update
+	create
+	EOF
+	git log --format=%gs -g >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done