diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index c7aff6b331..6f98168a81 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -2129,17 +2129,9 @@ static int files_reflog_iterator_advance(struct ref_iterator *ref_iterator)
 	while ((ok = dir_iterator_advance(diter)) == ITER_OK) {
 		if (!S_ISREG(diter->st.st_mode))
 			continue;
-		if (diter->basename[0] == '.')
+		if (check_refname_format(diter->basename,
+					 REFNAME_ALLOW_ONELEVEL))
 			continue;
-		if (ends_with(diter->basename, ".lock"))
-			continue;
-
-		if (!refs_resolve_ref_unsafe(iter->ref_store,
-					     diter->relative_path, 0,
-					     NULL, NULL)) {
-			error("bad ref for %s", diter->path.buf);
-			continue;
-		}
 
 		iter->base.refname = diter->relative_path;
 		return ITER_OK;
diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index 4998b676c2..6c11c4a5e3 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -1616,11 +1616,9 @@ static int reftable_reflog_iterator_advance(struct ref_iterator *ref_iterator)
 		if (iter->last_name && !strcmp(iter->log.refname, iter->last_name))
 			continue;
 
-		if (!refs_resolve_ref_unsafe(&iter->refs->base, iter->log.refname,
-					     0, NULL, NULL)) {
-			error(_("bad ref for %s"), iter->log.refname);
+		if (check_refname_format(iter->log.refname,
+					 REFNAME_ALLOW_ONELEVEL))
 			continue;
-		}
 
 		free(iter->last_name);
 		iter->last_name = xstrdup(iter->log.refname);