diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/gitclient/CliGitAPIImpl.java b/src/main/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/gitclient/CliGitAPIImpl.java
index ce652f46a9..70a74d11f1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/gitclient/CliGitAPIImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/gitclient/CliGitAPIImpl.java
@@ -1630,7 +1630,7 @@ public void submoduleClean(boolean recursive) throws GitException, InterruptedEx
      */
     @Override
     public @CheckForNull String getSubmoduleUrl(String name) throws GitException, InterruptedException {
-        String result = launchCommand("config", "--get", "submodule." + name + ".url");
+        String result = launchCommand("config", "-f", ".gitmodules", "--get", "submodule." + name + ".url");
         return StringUtils.trim(firstLine(result));
     }
 
@@ -1641,7 +1641,7 @@ public void submoduleClean(boolean recursive) throws GitException, InterruptedEx
      */
     @Override
     public void setSubmoduleUrl(String name, String url) throws GitException, InterruptedException {
-        launchCommand("config", "submodule." + name + ".url", url);
+        launchCommand("config", "-f", ".gitmodules", "submodule." + name + ".url", url);
     }
 
     /**