diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index 9da7181321..86e46d3dce 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ 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, 0) & DATA_CHANGED)
+		    ie_modified(istate, istate->cache[pos], &st, 0) & DATA_CHANGED)
 			return 0;
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t3600-rm.sh b/t/t3600-rm.sh
index 0ea858d652..f2c0168941 100755
--- a/t/t3600-rm.sh
+++ b/t/t3600-rm.sh
@@ -425,6 +425,13 @@ test_expect_success 'rm will error out on a modified .gitmodules file unless sta
 	git status -s -uno >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
+test_expect_success 'rm will not error out on .gitmodules file with zero stat data' '
+	git reset --hard &&
+	git submodule update &&
+	git read-tree HEAD &&
+	git rm submod &&
+	test_path_is_missing submod
+'
 
 test_expect_success 'rm issues a warning when section is not found in .gitmodules' '
 	git reset --hard &&