diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/modfetch/codehost/vcs.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/modfetch/codehost/vcs.go
index b1845f5c65..48238f176c 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/modfetch/codehost/vcs.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/modfetch/codehost/vcs.go
@@ -341,7 +341,9 @@ func (r *vcsRepo) Stat(rev string) (*RevInfo, error) {
 }
 
 func (r *vcsRepo) fetch() {
-	_, r.fetchErr = Run(r.dir, r.cmd.fetch)
+	if len(r.cmd.fetch) > 0 {
+		_, r.fetchErr = Run(r.dir, r.cmd.fetch)
+	}
 }
 
 func (r *vcsRepo) statLocal(rev string) (*RevInfo, error) {
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_get_svn.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_get_svn.txt
index e89bb9d9f5..90be737213 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_get_svn.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_get_svn.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ stderr 'ReadZip not implemented for svn'
 ! go install .
 stderr 'ReadZip not implemented for svn'
 
+# Attempting to get a nonexistent module using svn should fail with a
+# reasonable message instead of a panic.
+! go get -d vcs-test.golang.org/svn/nonexistent.svn
+! stderr panic
+stderr 'go get vcs-test.golang.org/svn/nonexistent.svn: no matching versions for query "latest"'
+
 -- go.mod --
 module golang/go/issues/28943/main
 -- main.go --