diff --git a/src/libstore/builtins/fetchurl.cc b/src/libstore/builtins/fetchurl.cc
index 2086bd0b9..cf7b2770f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/builtins/fetchurl.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/builtins/fetchurl.cc
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ void builtinFetchurl(const BasicDerivation & drv, const std::string & netrcData)
         writeFile(settings.netrcFile, netrcData, 0600);
     }
 
+    if (!drv.type().isFixed())
+        throw Error("'builtin:fetchurl' must be a fixed-output derivation");
+
     auto getAttr = [&](const std::string & name) {
         auto i = drv.env.find(name);
         if (i == drv.env.end()) throw Error("attribute '%s' missing", name);
diff --git a/tests/functional/fetchurl.sh b/tests/functional/fetchurl.sh
index 8cd40c09f..578f5a34c 100644
--- a/tests/functional/fetchurl.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/fetchurl.sh
@@ -78,3 +78,6 @@ outPath=$(nix-build -vvvvv --expr 'import <nix/fetchurl.nix>' --argstr url file:
 
 test -x $outPath/fetchurl.sh
 test -L $outPath/symlink
+
+# Make sure that *not* passing a outputHash fails.
+expectStderr 100 nix-build --expr '{ url }: builtins.derivation { name = "nix-cache-info"; system = "x86_64-linux"; builder = "builtin:fetchurl"; inherit url; outputHashMode = "flat"; }' --argstr url file://$narxz 2>&1 | grep 'must be a fixed-output derivation'