diff --git a/src/Attr.cc b/src/Attr.cc
index 52c7c461b6..998d48e9b5 100644
--- a/src/Attr.cc
+++ b/src/Attr.cc
@@ -297,10 +297,10 @@ bool Attributes::CheckAttr(Attr* a) {
         case ATTR_IS_USED: break;
 
         case ATTR_OPTIONAL:
-            if ( global_var )
-                return AttrError("&optional is not valid for global variables");
+            if ( ! in_record )
+                return AttrError("&optional is only valid for record fields");
 
-            if ( in_record && Find(ATTR_DEFAULT) )
+            if ( Find(ATTR_DEFAULT) )
                 return AttrError("Using &default and &optional together results in &default behavior");
 
             break;
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-global-set-error/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-global-set-error/out
index 431b2d445b..683c0c0db5 100644
--- a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-global-set-error/out
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-global-set-error/out
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 error in <...>/attr-default-global-set-error.zeek, line 4: &default is not valid for global variables except for tables (&default=0)
 error in <...>/attr-default-global-set-error.zeek, line 9: &default is not valid for global variables except for tables (&default=10)
 error in <...>/attr-default-global-set-error.zeek, line 9: &default is not valid for global variables except for tables (&default=9)
-error in <...>/attr-default-global-set-error.zeek, line 9: &optional is not valid for global variables (&optional)
+error in <...>/attr-default-global-set-error.zeek, line 9: &optional is only valid for record fields (&optional)
 error in <...>/attr-default-global-set-error.zeek, line 10: &default is not valid for global variables except for tables (&default=set())
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.invalid-optional-attr/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.invalid-optional-attr/out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e862d4bb9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.invalid-optional-attr/out
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+### BTest baseline data generated by btest-diff. Do not edit. Use "btest -U/-u" to update. Requires BTest >= 0.63.
+error in <...>/invalid-optional-attr.zeek, line 5: &optional is only valid for record fields (&optional)
+error in <...>/invalid-optional-attr.zeek, line 11: &optional is only valid for record fields (&optional)
diff --git a/testing/btest/language/invalid-optional-attr.zeek b/testing/btest/language/invalid-optional-attr.zeek
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..338408caf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/language/invalid-optional-attr.zeek
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# @TEST-EXEC-FAIL: zeek -b %INPUT >out 2>&1
+# @TEST-EXEC: TEST_DIFF_CANONIFIER=$SCRIPTS/diff-remove-abspath btest-diff out
+
+# Invalid on globals
+global a: int &optional;
+
+# TODO: Invalid on parameters
+function f(a: int &optional)
+	{
+	# Invalid in locals
+	local b: int &optional;
+	}