diff --git a/builtin/grep.c b/builtin/grep.c
index 6946cf4bbc..4bbbce2a64 100644
--- a/builtin/grep.c
+++ b/builtin/grep.c
@@ -1015,6 +1015,7 @@ int cmd_grep(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		       prefix, argv + i);
 	pathspec.max_depth = opt.max_depth;
 	pathspec.recursive = 1;
+	pathspec.recurse_submodules = !!recurse_submodules;
 
 #ifndef NO_PTHREADS
 	if (list.nr || cached || show_in_pager)
diff --git a/pathspec.h b/pathspec.h
index 60e6500401..d000b63d80 100644
--- a/pathspec.h
+++ b/pathspec.h
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ struct pathspec {
 	int nr;
 	unsigned int has_wildcard:1;
 	unsigned int recursive:1;
+	unsigned int recurse_submodules:1;
 	unsigned magic;
 	int max_depth;
 	struct pathspec_item {
diff --git a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
index 935df6a65c..a1705f70cf 100755
--- a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
+++ b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
@@ -93,4 +93,23 @@ test_expect_success 'command line pathspec parsing for "git log"' '
 	git log --merge -- a
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'tree_entry_interesting does not match past submodule boundaries' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo submodule" &&
+	git init submodule &&
+	test_commit -C submodule initial &&
+	git init repo &&
+	>"repo/[bracket]" &&
+	git -C repo add "[bracket]" &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git -C repo commit -m bracket &&
+	git -C repo rev-list HEAD -- "[bracket]" >expect &&
+
+	git -C repo submodule add ../submodule &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git -C repo commit -m submodule &&
+
+	git -C repo rev-list HEAD -- "[bracket]" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/tree-walk.c b/tree-walk.c
index 6a42e402b0..d6de5315be 100644
--- a/tree-walk.c
+++ b/tree-walk.c
@@ -1011,7 +1011,8 @@ static enum interesting do_match(const struct name_entry *entry,
 				 * character.  More accurate matching can then
 				 * be performed in the submodule itself.
 				 */
-				if (ps->recursive && S_ISGITLINK(entry->mode) &&
+				if (ps->recurse_submodules &&
+				    S_ISGITLINK(entry->mode) &&
 				    !ps_strncmp(item, match + baselen,
 						entry->path,
 						item->nowildcard_len - baselen))
@@ -1060,7 +1061,7 @@ match_wildcards:
 		 * character.  More accurate matching can then
 		 * be performed in the submodule itself.
 		 */
-		if (ps->recursive && S_ISGITLINK(entry->mode) &&
+		if (ps->recurse_submodules && S_ISGITLINK(entry->mode) &&
 		    !ps_strncmp(item, match, base->buf + base_offset,
 				item->nowildcard_len)) {
 			strbuf_setlen(base, base_offset + baselen);