diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index 939d6870ec..1c6d4215f5 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -65,8 +65,7 @@ int is_staging_gitmodules_ok(struct index_state *istate)
 	if ((pos >= 0) && (pos < istate->cache_nr)) {
 		struct stat st;
 		if (lstat(GITMODULES_FILE, &st) == 0 &&
-		    ie_match_stat(istate, istate->cache[pos], &st,
-				  CE_MATCH_IGNORE_FSMONITOR) & DATA_CHANGED)
+		    ie_match_stat(istate, istate->cache[pos], &st, 0) & DATA_CHANGED)
 			return 0;
 	}