diff --git a/lib/symboldatabase.cpp b/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
index 9299b2470..fadcbebc2 100644
--- a/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
+++ b/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
@@ -4925,6 +4925,8 @@ void SymbolDatabase::setValueType(Token *tok, const ValueType &valuetype)
                         vt2_.pointer = 1;
                     if ((vt.constness & (1 << vt2->pointer)) != 0)
                         vt2_.constness |= (1 << vt2->pointer);
+                    if (!Token::Match(autoTok->tokAt(1), "*|&"))
+                        vt2_.constness = vt.constness;
                     var->setValueType(vt2_);
                     if (vt2->typeScope && vt2->typeScope->definedType) {
                         var->type(vt2->typeScope->definedType);
diff --git a/test/testcondition.cpp b/test/testcondition.cpp
index 833fb4a14..4c49c34ed 100644
--- a/test/testcondition.cpp
+++ b/test/testcondition.cpp
@@ -2978,6 +2978,14 @@ private:
               "  if (b) {}\n"
               "}\n");
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+
+        // #8993
+        check("void f(const std::string& x) {\n"
+              "  auto y = x;\n"
+              "  if (x.empty()) y = \"1\";\n"
+              "  if (y.empty()) return;\n"
+              "}\n");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
     }
 
     void checkInvalidTestForOverflow() {