diff --git a/src/libflake-tests/flakeref.cc b/src/libflake-tests/flakeref.cc
index eb8b56ea2..5fcbbc9c3 100644
--- a/src/libflake-tests/flakeref.cc
+++ b/src/libflake-tests/flakeref.cc
@@ -283,4 +283,18 @@ TEST(to_string, doesntReencodeUrl)
     ASSERT_EQ(unparsed, expected);
 }
 
+TEST(parseFlakeRef, malformedGithubUrlDoesNotCrash)
+{
+    experimentalFeatureSettings.experimentalFeatures.get().insert(Xp::Flakes);
+
+    fetchers::Settings fetchSettings;
+
+    // Using ref= instead of rev= with a github: URL should produce an
+    // error, not an assertion failure in renderAuthorityAndPath
+    // (https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/15196).
+    EXPECT_THROW(
+        parseFlakeRef(fetchSettings, "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixpkgs.git?ref=aead170c1a49253ebfa5027010dfd89a77b73ca4"),
+        Error);
+}
+
 } // namespace nix
diff --git a/src/libflake/flakeref.cc b/src/libflake/flakeref.cc
index 0a55ac35c..f3bfb9527 100644
--- a/src/libflake/flakeref.cc
+++ b/src/libflake/flakeref.cc
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ std::pair<FlakeRef, std::string> parsePathFlakeRefWithFragment(
         fetchSettings,
         {
             .scheme = "path",
-            .authority = ParsedURL::Authority{},
+            .authority = isAbsolute(path) ? std::optional{ParsedURL::Authority{}} : std::nullopt,
             .path = splitString<std::vector<std::string>>(path, "/"),
             .query = query,
             .fragment = fragment,