diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/BlockedKeywordValidator.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/BlockedKeywordValidator.java
index 64ce6ab..1e805e9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/BlockedKeywordValidator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/BlockedKeywordValidator.java
@@ -179,7 +179,10 @@
           }
         }
       }
-    } catch (NoSuchProjectException | IOException | ExecutionException e) {
+    } catch (NoSuchProjectException
+        | IOException
+        | ExecutionException
+        | PatchListNotAvailableException e) {
       throw new CommitValidationException("failed to check on blocked keywords", e);
     }
     return Collections.emptyList();
@@ -221,24 +224,14 @@
       RevWalk revWalk,
       ImmutableCollection<Pattern> blockedKeywordPatterns,
       PluginConfig cfg)
-      throws IOException, ExecutionException {
+      throws IOException, ExecutionException, PatchListNotAvailableException {
     List<CommitValidationMessage> messages = new LinkedList<>();
     checkCommitMessageForBlockedKeywords(blockedKeywordPatterns, messages, c.getFullMessage());
     Map<String, ObjectId> content = CommitUtils.getChangedContent(repo, c, revWalk);
-    Optional<PatchList> patchList;
-    try {
-      patchList =
-          Optional.of(
-              patchListCache.get(
-                  PatchListKey.againstDefaultBase(c, DiffPreferencesInfo.Whitespace.IGNORE_NONE),
-                  project));
-    } catch (PatchListNotAvailableException e) {
-      // TODO(hiesel): Make changes to Gerrit core to always get a diff here. This entails figuring
-      // out Git object visibility between unflushed ObjectInserters and ObjectReaders created from
-      // the repo.
-      logger.atInfo().withCause(e).log("unable to load patch set");
-      patchList = Optional.empty();
-    }
+    PatchList patchList =
+        patchListCache.get(
+            PatchListKey.againstDefaultBase(c, DiffPreferencesInfo.Whitespace.IGNORE_NONE),
+            project);
 
     for (String path : content.keySet()) {
       ObjectLoader ol = revWalk.getObjectReader().open(content.get(path));
@@ -247,12 +240,8 @@
           continue;
         }
       }
-      if (patchList.isPresent()) {
-        checkLineDiffForBlockedKeywords(
-            patchList.get().get(path).getEdits(), blockedKeywordPatterns, messages, path, ol);
-      } else {
-        checkEntireFileForBlockedKeywords(blockedKeywordPatterns, messages, path, ol);
-      }
+      checkLineDiffForBlockedKeywords(
+          patchList.get(path).getEdits(), blockedKeywordPatterns, messages, path, ol);
     }
     return messages;
   }
@@ -304,22 +293,6 @@
     }
   }
 
-  private static void checkEntireFileForBlockedKeywords(
-      ImmutableCollection<Pattern> blockedKeywordPatterns,
-      List<CommitValidationMessage> messages,
-      String path,
-      ObjectLoader ol)
-      throws IOException {
-    try (BufferedReader br =
-        new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(ol.openStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
-      int line = 1;
-      for (String l = br.readLine(); l != null; l = br.readLine()) {
-        checkLineForBlockedKeywords(blockedKeywordPatterns, messages, path, line, l);
-        line++;
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
   private static List<String> findBlockedKeywordsInString(
       ImmutableCollection<Pattern> blockedKeywordPatterns, String text) {
     List<String> found = new ArrayList<>();
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/UploadValidatorIT.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/UploadValidatorIT.java
index bd5f8f3..0e9bf85 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/UploadValidatorIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/uploadvalidator/UploadValidatorIT.java
@@ -386,9 +386,31 @@
         .create(admin.newIdent(), clone, "Subject", "foo.txt", "" + "blah \n")
         .to("refs/heads/stable")
         .assertOkStatus();
-    // Create a change that merges the other branch into master. This defaults back to
-    // full-file validation. If it doesn't, the create change call below would fail with
-    // a MissingObjectException.
+    ChangeInput changeInput = new ChangeInput();
+    changeInput.project = project.get();
+    changeInput.branch = "master";
+    changeInput.subject = "A change";
+    changeInput.status = ChangeStatus.NEW;
+    MergeInput mergeInput = new MergeInput();
+    mergeInput.source = gApi.projects().name(project.get()).branch("stable").get().revision;
+    changeInput.merge = mergeInput;
+    gApi.changes().create(changeInput);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void createChangeSucceedsWhenKeywordExistsInFileButNotInDiff() throws Exception {
+    RevCommit head = getHead(testRepo.getRepository(), "HEAD");
+    pushFactory
+        .create(admin.newIdent(), clone, "Subject", "file.txt", "" + "secr3t \n")
+        .to("refs/heads/master")
+        .assertOkStatus();
+    pushConfig(
+        Joiner.on("\n").join("[plugin \"uploadvalidator\"]", "    blockedKeywordPattern = secr3t"));
+    clone.reset(head);
+    pushFactory
+        .create(admin.newIdent(), clone, "Subject", "foo.txt", "" + "blah \n")
+        .to("refs/heads/stable")
+        .assertOkStatus();
     ChangeInput changeInput = new ChangeInput();
     changeInput.project = project.get();
     changeInput.branch = "master";
@@ -414,9 +436,6 @@
         .create(admin.newIdent(), clone, "Subject", "foo.txt", "" + "blah \n")
         .to("refs/heads/stable")
         .assertOkStatus();
-    // Create a change that merges the other branch into master. This defaults back to
-    // full-file validation. If it doesn't, the create change call below would fail with
-    // a MissingObjectException.
     ChangeInput changeInput = new ChangeInput();
     changeInput.project = project.get();
     changeInput.branch = "master";