diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 397e38b41cc6fa..1771b2c444c005 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ static int diff_suppress_blank_empty;
 static enum git_colorbool diff_use_color_default = GIT_COLOR_UNKNOWN;
 static int diff_color_moved_default;
 static int diff_color_moved_ws_default;
-static int diff_context_default = 3;
-static int diff_interhunk_context_default;
+static unsigned int diff_context_default = 3;
+static unsigned int diff_interhunk_context_default;
 static char *diff_word_regex_cfg;
 static struct external_diff external_diff_cfg;
 static char *diff_order_file_cfg;
@@ -382,16 +382,17 @@ int git_diff_ui_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 		return 0;
 	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.context")) {
-		diff_context_default = git_config_int(var, value, ctx->kvi);
-		if (diff_context_default < 0)
+		int val = git_config_int(var, value, ctx->kvi);
+		if (val < 0)
 			return -1;
+		diff_context_default = val;
 		return 0;
 	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.interhunkcontext")) {
-		diff_interhunk_context_default = git_config_int(var, value,
-								ctx->kvi);
-		if (diff_interhunk_context_default < 0)
+		int val = git_config_int(var, value, ctx->kvi);
+		if (val < 0)
 			return -1;
+		diff_interhunk_context_default = val;
 		return 0;
 	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.renames")) {
@@ -5924,9 +5925,12 @@ static int diff_opt_unified(const struct option *opt,
 	BUG_ON_OPT_NEG(unset);
 
 	if (arg) {
-		options->context = strtol(arg, &s, 10);
+		long val = strtol(arg, &s, 10);
 		if (*s)
 			return error(_("%s expects a numerical value"), "--unified");
+		if (val < 0)
+			return error(_("%s expects a non-negative integer"), "--unified");
+		options->context = val;
 	}
 	enable_patch_output(&options->output_format);
 
@@ -6111,9 +6115,8 @@ struct option *add_diff_options(const struct option *opts,
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "default-prefix", options, NULL,
 			       N_("use default prefixes a/ and b/"),
 			       PARSE_OPT_NONEG | PARSE_OPT_NOARG, diff_opt_default_prefix),
-		OPT_INTEGER_F(0, "inter-hunk-context", &options->interhunkcontext,
-			      N_("show context between diff hunks up to the specified number of lines"),
-			      PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
+		OPT_UNSIGNED(0, "inter-hunk-context", &options->interhunkcontext,
+			     N_("show context between diff hunks up to the specified number of lines")),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "output-indicator-new",
 			       &options->output_indicators[OUTPUT_INDICATOR_NEW],
 			       N_("<char>"),
diff --git a/diff.h b/diff.h
index 7eb84aadf40c41..bb5cddaf3499e9 100644
--- a/diff.h
+++ b/diff.h
@@ -294,9 +294,9 @@ struct diff_options {
 	enum git_colorbool use_color;
 
 	/* Number of context lines to generate in patch output. */
-	int context;
+	unsigned int context;
 
-	int interhunkcontext;
+	unsigned int interhunkcontext;
 
 	/* Affects the way detection logic for complete rewrites, renames and
 	 * copies.
diff --git a/parse-options.h b/parse-options.h
index 706de9729f6b3f..c0a3a3dcae0535 100644
--- a/parse-options.h
+++ b/parse-options.h
@@ -116,7 +116,10 @@ typedef int parse_opt_subcommand_fn(int argc, const char **argv,
  *   mask of parse_opt_option_flags.
  *   PARSE_OPT_OPTARG: says that the argument is optional (not for BOOLEANs)
  *   PARSE_OPT_NOARG: says that this option does not take an argument
- *   PARSE_OPT_NONEG: says that this option cannot be negated
+ *   PARSE_OPT_NONEG: says that this option cannot be negated (i.e.
+ *                   prevents --no-<option> boolean form). Does not reject
+ *                   negative numeric values like --option=-1. Use
+ *                   OPT_UNSIGNED for options that must be non-negative.
  *   PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN: this option is skipped in the default usage, and
  *                     shown only in the full usage.
  *   PARSE_OPT_LASTARG_DEFAULT: says that this option will take the default
diff --git a/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh b/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh
index bada0cbd32f764..bec1676f8d5a41 100755
--- a/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh
+++ b/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh
@@ -114,4 +114,10 @@ test_expect_success 'diff.interHunkContext invalid' '
 	test_must_fail git diff
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--inter-hunk-context rejects negative value' '
+	test_unconfig diff.interHunkContext &&
+	test_must_fail git diff --inter-hunk-context=-1 2>err &&
+	test_grep "expects a non-negative integer" err
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t4055-diff-context.sh b/t/t4055-diff-context.sh
index 1384a8195705e3..b26f6eea7c8332 100755
--- a/t/t4055-diff-context.sh
+++ b/t/t4055-diff-context.sh
@@ -82,6 +82,11 @@ test_expect_success 'negative integer config parsing' '
 	test_grep "bad config variable" output
 '
 
+test_expect_success '-U-1 is rejected' '
+	test_must_fail git diff -U-1 2>err &&
+	test_grep "expects a non-negative integer" err
+'
+
 test_expect_success '-U0 is valid, so is diff.context=0' '
 	test_config diff.context 0 &&
 	git diff >output &&
diff --git a/xdiff/xemit.c b/xdiff/xemit.c
index 04f7e9193b61f0..7cd9cf0a44f4d6 100644
--- a/xdiff/xemit.c
+++ b/xdiff/xemit.c
@@ -46,12 +46,20 @@ static long saturating_add(long a, long b)
 xdchange_t *xdl_get_hunk(xdchange_t **xscr, xdemitconf_t const *xecfg)
 {
 	xdchange_t *xch, *xchp, *lxch;
-	long max_common = saturating_add(saturating_add(xecfg->ctxlen,
-							xecfg->ctxlen),
-					 xecfg->interhunkctxlen);
-	long max_ignorable = xecfg->ctxlen;
+	long max_common;
+	long max_ignorable;
 	long ignored = 0; /* number of ignored blank lines */
 
+	if (xecfg->ctxlen < 0)
+		BUG("negative context length: %ld", xecfg->ctxlen);
+	if (xecfg->interhunkctxlen < 0)
+		BUG("negative inter-hunk context length: %ld", xecfg->interhunkctxlen);
+
+	max_common = saturating_add(saturating_add(xecfg->ctxlen,
+						   xecfg->ctxlen),
+				    xecfg->interhunkctxlen);
+	max_ignorable = xecfg->ctxlen;
+
 	/* remove ignorable changes that are too far before other changes */
 	for (xchp = *xscr; xchp && xchp->ignore; xchp = xchp->next) {
 		xch = xchp->next;