diff --git a/src/_pytest/_code/code.py b/src/_pytest/_code/code.py
index 1105310cf..79845db73 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/_code/code.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/_code/code.py
@@ -413,6 +413,7 @@ class ExceptionInfo(object):
                          to the exception message/``__str__()``
         """
         tup = sys.exc_info()
+        assert tup[0] is not None, "no current exception"
         _striptext = ""
         if exprinfo is None and isinstance(tup[1], AssertionError):
             exprinfo = getattr(tup[1], "msg", None)
diff --git a/testing/code/test_code.py b/testing/code/test_code.py
index 3362d4604..81a87481c 100644
--- a/testing/code/test_code.py
+++ b/testing/code/test_code.py
@@ -172,6 +172,10 @@ class TestExceptionInfo(object):
             exci = _pytest._code.ExceptionInfo.from_current()
         assert exci.getrepr()
 
+    def test_from_current_with_missing(self):
+        with pytest.raises(AssertionError, match="no current exception"):
+            _pytest._code.ExceptionInfo.from_current()
+
 
 class TestTracebackEntry(object):
     def test_getsource(self):