diff --git a/src/plugins/git/gitclient.cpp b/src/plugins/git/gitclient.cpp
index c8f4cdebb3e..65baccc8586 100644
--- a/src/plugins/git/gitclient.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/git/gitclient.cpp
@@ -1156,7 +1156,7 @@ QString GitClient::synchronousShortDescription(const QString &workingDirectory,
         VcsBase::VcsBaseOutputWindow *outputWindow = VcsBase::VcsBaseOutputWindow::instance();
         outputWindow->appendSilently(tr("Cannot describe revision \"%1\" in \"%2\": %3")
                                      .arg(revision, workingDirectory, commandOutputFromLocal8Bit(errorText)));
-        return QString();
+        return revision;
     }
     description = commandOutputFromLocal8Bit(outputTextData);
     if (description.endsWith(QLatin1Char('\n')))
diff --git a/src/plugins/mercurial/mercurialclient.cpp b/src/plugins/mercurial/mercurialclient.cpp
index 496c217f773..44c2ef9231e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/mercurial/mercurialclient.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/mercurial/mercurialclient.cpp
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ QString MercurialClient::shortDescriptionSync(const QString &workingDirectory,
         args << QLatin1String("--template") << format;
     QByteArray outputData;
     if (!vcsFullySynchronousExec(workingDirectory, args, &outputData))
-        return QString();
+        return revision;
     description = QString::fromLocal8Bit(outputData);
     description.remove(QLatin1Char('\r'));
     if (description.endsWith(QLatin1Char('\n')))