diff --git a/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts b/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts
index ce01daf9c79ce519ac9cc78142294e82a262db55..7c92f1b13f3f441af9dc5e5242ffd89ce9a3fc57 100644
--- a/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ async function getModules(
         '--file',
         gitModulesPath,
         '--get-regexp',
-        'path',
+        '\\.path',
       ])) ?? /* istanbul ignore next: should never happen */ ''
     )
       .trim()
diff --git a/lib/util/git/index.ts b/lib/util/git/index.ts
index 0acf7e4fe79dd1c50365efab5f3aa8c90afcac17..1420f18a5c1ce82970a4f8204ff66c6f29594399 100644
--- a/lib/util/git/index.ts
+++ b/lib/util/git/index.ts
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ export async function getSubmodules(): Promise<string[]> {
         '--file',
         '.gitmodules',
         '--get-regexp',
-        'path',
+        '\\.path',
       ])) || ''
     )
       .trim()