diff --git a/git-filter-branch.sh b/git-filter-branch.sh
index 195b5ef48e..7c4ad7dcf9 100755
--- a/git-filter-branch.sh
+++ b/git-filter-branch.sh
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ while read commit parents; do
 			die "tree filter failed: $filter_tree"
 
 		(
-			git diff-index -r --name-only $commit &&
+			git diff-index -r --name-only --ignore-submodules $commit &&
 			git ls-files --others
 		) > "$tempdir"/tree-state || exit
 		git update-index --add --replace --remove --stdin \