diff --git a/lib/checkautovariables.cpp b/lib/checkautovariables.cpp
index 031fa0525..e005e0e71 100644
--- a/lib/checkautovariables.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkautovariables.cpp
@@ -399,6 +399,10 @@ void CheckAutoVariables::returnReference()
         // have we reached a function that returns a reference?
         if (tok->previous() && tok->previous()->str() == "&") {
             for (const Token *tok2 = scope->classStart->next(); tok2 && tok2 != scope->classEnd; tok2 = tok2->next()) {
+                // Skip over lambdas
+                if (tok2->str() == "[" && tok2->link()->strAt(1) == "(" && tok2->link()->linkAt(1)->strAt(1) == "{")
+                    tok2 = tok2->link()->linkAt(1)->linkAt(1);
+
                 if (tok2->str() != "return")
                     continue;
 
diff --git a/test/testautovariables.cpp b/test/testautovariables.cpp
index d90cf14df..a8bf0c94b 100644
--- a/test/testautovariables.cpp
+++ b/test/testautovariables.cpp
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(returnReference7);
         TEST_CASE(returnReferenceLiteral);
         TEST_CASE(returnReferenceCalculation);
+        TEST_CASE(returnReferenceLambda);
 
         // global namespace
         TEST_CASE(testglobalnamespace);
@@ -954,6 +955,16 @@ private:
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
     }
 
+    void returnReferenceLambda() {
+        // #6787
+        check("const Item& foo(const Container& items) const {\n"
+              "    return bar(items.begin(), items.end(),\n"
+              "    [](const Item& lhs, const Item& rhs) {\n"
+              "        return false;\n"
+              "    });\n"
+              "}");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+    }
 
     void testglobalnamespace() {
         check("class SharedPtrHolder\n"