diff --git a/lib/config/definitions.ts b/lib/config/definitions.ts
index d3929a5aac5cd9f41426812c07043c4a0d6df875..ee41d28ed3fc4b525288b0fee33995e75a26be5b 100644
--- a/lib/config/definitions.ts
+++ b/lib/config/definitions.ts
@@ -1695,6 +1695,7 @@ const options: RenovateOptions[] = [
     stage: 'package',
     type: 'object',
     default: {
+      enabled: false,
       versionScheme: 'git',
       fileMatch: ['(^|/).gitmodules$'],
     },
diff --git a/renovate-schema.json b/renovate-schema.json
index 810042884ac68fa2705b91d37773ba74e152fb36..b74b3fecc2f69b4511c3c59cdc2cdf0908842ef6 100644
--- a/renovate-schema.json
+++ b/renovate-schema.json
@@ -1126,6 +1126,7 @@
       "description": "Configuration object for git submodule files",
       "type": "object",
       "default": {
+        "enabled": false,
         "versionScheme": "git",
         "fileMatch": ["(^|/).gitmodules$"]
       },