diff --git a/tests/journey/gix.sh b/tests/journey/gix.sh
index 9a4165677f9..8b76086c24b 100644
--- a/tests/journey/gix.sh
+++ b/tests/journey/gix.sh
@@ -355,6 +355,15 @@ title "gix commit-graph"
         fi
       )
     )
+    (with "the 'clone' sub-command"
+        snapshot="$snapshot/clone"
+        (with "an ambiguous ssh host which could be mistaken for an argument"
+            it "fails without trying to pass it to command-line programs" && {
+              WITH_SNAPSHOT="$snapshot/fail-ambigous-host" \
+              expect_run $WITH_FAILURE "$exe_plumbing" free pack receive 'ssh://-oProxyCommand=open$IFS-aCalculator/foo'
+            }
+        )
+    )
     (with "the 'index' sub-command"
       snapshot="$snapshot/index"
       title "gix free pack index create"
diff --git a/tests/snapshots/plumbing/no-repo/pack/clone/fail-ambigous-host b/tests/snapshots/plumbing/no-repo/pack/clone/fail-ambigous-host
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..473adbb4a27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/snapshots/plumbing/no-repo/pack/clone/fail-ambigous-host
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Error: Host name '-oProxyCommand=open$IFS-aCalculator' could be mistaken for a command-line argument
\ No newline at end of file