diff --git a/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtinsert.c b/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtinsert.c
index 55fe16bd4e..b86c122763 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtinsert.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtinsert.c
@@ -597,7 +597,8 @@ _bt_check_unique(Relation rel, BTInsertState insertstate, Relation heapRel,
 					 * not part of this chain because it had a different index
 					 * entry.
 					 */
-					if (table_index_fetch_tuple_check(heapRel, &itup->t_tid,
+					htid = itup->t_tid;
+					if (table_index_fetch_tuple_check(heapRel, &htid,
 													  SnapshotSelf, NULL))
 					{
 						/* Normal case --- it's still live */
diff --git a/src/backend/access/table/tableam.c b/src/backend/access/table/tableam.c
index c814733b22..4b2bb29559 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/table/tableam.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/table/tableam.c
@@ -196,6 +196,10 @@ table_beginscan_parallel(Relation relation, ParallelTableScanDesc parallel_scan)
  * optimized, but is unlikely to matter from a performance POV. If there
  * frequently are live index pointers also matching a unique index key, the
  * CPU overhead of this routine is unlikely to matter.
+ *
+ * Note that *tid may be modified when we return true if the AM supports
+ * storing multiple row versions reachable via a single index entry (like
+ * heap's HOT).
  */
 bool
 table_index_fetch_tuple_check(Relation rel,
diff --git a/src/include/access/tableam.h b/src/include/access/tableam.h
index eb18739c36..b3d2a6dd31 100644
--- a/src/include/access/tableam.h
+++ b/src/include/access/tableam.h
@@ -989,7 +989,9 @@ table_index_fetch_end(struct IndexFetchTableData *scan)
 /*
  * Fetches, as part of an index scan, tuple at `tid` into `slot`, after doing
  * a visibility test according to `snapshot`. If a tuple was found and passed
- * the visibility test, returns true, false otherwise.
+ * the visibility test, returns true, false otherwise. Note that *tid may be
+ * modified when we return true (see later remarks on multiple row versions
+ * reachable via a single index entry).
  *
  * *call_again needs to be false on the first call to table_index_fetch_tuple() for
  * a tid. If there potentially is another tuple matching the tid, *call_again