diff --git a/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts b/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts
index db316c81d0b..8e5a8f9d2f1 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ export class GitHistoryProvider implements SourceControlHistoryProvider, FileDec
 						// Compute base if the branch has changed
 						const mergeBase = await this.resolveHEADMergeBase();
 
-						this._currentHistoryItemBaseRef = mergeBase &&
+						this._currentHistoryItemBaseRef = mergeBase && mergeBase.name && mergeBase.remote &&
 							(mergeBase.remote !== this.repository.HEAD.upstream?.remote ||
 								mergeBase.name !== this.repository.HEAD.upstream?.name) ? {
 							id: `refs/remotes/${mergeBase.remote}/${mergeBase.name}`,
diff --git a/extensions/git/src/repository.ts b/extensions/git/src/repository.ts
index d483d9b1766..6185ce6f601 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/repository.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/repository.ts
@@ -1533,7 +1533,11 @@ export class Repository implements Disposable {
 		try {
 			const mergeBase = await this.getConfig(mergeBaseConfigKey);
 			const branchFromConfig = mergeBase !== '' ? await this.getBranch(mergeBase) : undefined;
-			if (branchFromConfig) {
+
+			// There was a brief period of time when we would consider local branches as a valid
+			// merge base. Since then we have fixed the issue and only remote branches can be used
+			// as a merge base so we are adding an additional check.
+			if (branchFromConfig && branchFromConfig.remote) {
 				return branchFromConfig;
 			}
 		} catch (err) { }