diff --git a/builtin/mv.c b/builtin/mv.c
index 21c46d1636..5258077224 100644
--- a/builtin/mv.c
+++ b/builtin/mv.c
@@ -179,6 +179,9 @@ int cmd_mv(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 						modes = xrealloc(modes,
 								(argc + last - first)
 								* sizeof(enum update_mode));
+						submodule_gitfile = xrealloc(submodule_gitfile,
+								(argc + last - first)
+								* sizeof(char *));
 					}
 
 					dst = add_slash(dst);
@@ -192,6 +195,7 @@ int cmd_mv(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 							prefix_path(dst, dst_len,
 								path + length + 1);
 						modes[argc + j] = INDEX;
+						submodule_gitfile[argc + j] = NULL;
 					}
 					argc += last - first;
 				}