diff --git a/app/models/repository.rb b/app/models/repository.rb
index 2ffd9558ebc..a67bb7294e6 100644
--- a/app/models/repository.rb
+++ b/app/models/repository.rb
@@ -938,9 +938,11 @@ class Repository
   end
 
   def search_files_by_name(query, ref)
-    return [] if empty? || query.blank?
+    safe_query = Regexp.escape(query.sub(/^\/*/, ""))
 
-    args = %W(ls-tree --full-tree -r #{ref || root_ref} --name-status | #{Regexp.escape(query)})
+    return [] if empty? || safe_query.blank?
+
+    args = %W(ls-tree --full-tree -r #{ref || root_ref} --name-status | #{safe_query})
 
     run_git(args).first.lines.map(&:strip)
   end
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/36571-ignore-root-in-repo.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/36571-ignore-root-in-repo.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..396e82be51b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/36571-ignore-root-in-repo.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Ignore leading slashes when searching for files within context of repository.
+merge_request:
+author: Andrew McCallum
+type: fixed
diff --git a/spec/models/repository_spec.rb b/spec/models/repository_spec.rb
index f3456e5b354..d9395ca61d7 100644
--- a/spec/models/repository_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/repository_spec.rb
@@ -668,6 +668,18 @@ describe Repository do
       expect(results.first).to eq('files/html/500.html')
     end
 
+    it 'ignores leading slashes' do
+      results = repository.search_files_by_name('/files', 'master')
+
+      expect(results.first).to eq('files/html/500.html')
+    end
+
+    it 'properly handles when query is only slashes' do
+      results = repository.search_files_by_name('//', 'master')
+
+      expect(results).to match_array([])
+    end
+
     it 'properly handles when query is not present' do
       results = repository.search_files_by_name('', 'master')