diff --git a/apply.c b/apply.c
index f8bf0bd..b96d375 100644
--- a/apply.c
+++ b/apply.c
@@ -3867,9 +3867,9 @@
 	if (!patch->is_delete)
 		new_name = patch->new_name;
 
-	if (old_name && !verify_path(old_name))
+	if (old_name && !verify_path(old_name, patch->old_mode))
 		return error(_("invalid path '%s'"), old_name);
-	if (new_name && !verify_path(new_name))
+	if (new_name && !verify_path(new_name, patch->new_mode))
 		return error(_("invalid path '%s'"), new_name);
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/builtin/update-index.c b/builtin/update-index.c
index 8d152de..1921659 100644
--- a/builtin/update-index.c
+++ b/builtin/update-index.c
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@
 	int size, len, option;
 	struct cache_entry *ce;
 
-	if (!verify_path(path))
+	if (!verify_path(path, mode))
 		return error("Invalid path '%s'", path);
 
 	len = strlen(path);
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@
 		stat_errno = errno;
 	} /* else stat is valid */
 
-	if (!verify_path(path)) {
+	if (!verify_path(path, st.st_mode)) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "Ignoring path %s\n", path);
 		return;
 	}
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@
 			path_name = uq.buf;
 		}
 
-		if (!verify_path(path_name)) {
+		if (!verify_path(path_name, mode)) {
 			fprintf(stderr, "Ignoring path %s\n", path_name);
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 041c0fb..5a44f79 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -598,7 +598,7 @@
 extern int write_locked_index(struct index_state *, struct lock_file *lock, unsigned flags);
 extern int discard_index(struct index_state *);
 extern int unmerged_index(const struct index_state *);
-extern int verify_path(const char *path);
+extern int verify_path(const char *path, unsigned mode);
 extern int strcmp_offset(const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t *first_change);
 extern int index_dir_exists(struct index_state *istate, const char *name, int namelen);
 extern void adjust_dirname_case(struct index_state *istate, char *name);
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index 333e0c5..aa99f1f 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@
 	int size, len;
 	struct cache_entry *ce, *ret;
 
-	if (!verify_path(path)) {
+	if (!verify_path(path, mode)) {
 		error("Invalid path '%s'", path);
 		return NULL;
 	}
@@ -796,7 +796,7 @@
  * Also, we don't want double slashes or slashes at the
  * end that can make pathnames ambiguous.
  */
-static int verify_dotfile(const char *rest)
+static int verify_dotfile(const char *rest, unsigned mode)
 {
 	/*
 	 * The first character was '.', but that
@@ -814,6 +814,9 @@
 	 * case-insensitively here, even if ignore_case is not set.
 	 * This outlaws ".GIT" everywhere out of an abundance of caution,
 	 * since there's really no good reason to allow it.
+	 *
+	 * Once we've seen ".git", we can also find ".gitmodules", etc (also
+	 * case-insensitively).
 	 */
 	case 'g':
 	case 'G':
@@ -823,6 +826,12 @@
 			break;
 		if (rest[3] == '\0' || is_dir_sep(rest[3]))
 			return 0;
+		if (S_ISLNK(mode)) {
+			rest += 3;
+			if (skip_iprefix(rest, "modules", &rest) &&
+			    (*rest == '\0' || is_dir_sep(*rest)))
+				return 0;
+		}
 		break;
 	case '.':
 		if (rest[1] == '\0' || is_dir_sep(rest[1]))
@@ -831,7 +840,7 @@
 	return 1;
 }
 
-int verify_path(const char *path)
+int verify_path(const char *path, unsigned mode)
 {
 	char c;
 
@@ -844,12 +853,25 @@
 			return 1;
 		if (is_dir_sep(c)) {
 inside:
-			if (protect_hfs && is_hfs_dotgit(path))
-				return 0;
-			if (protect_ntfs && is_ntfs_dotgit(path))
-				return 0;
+			if (protect_hfs) {
+				if (is_hfs_dotgit(path))
+					return 0;
+				if (S_ISLNK(mode)) {
+					if (is_hfs_dotgitmodules(path))
+						return 0;
+				}
+			}
+			if (protect_ntfs) {
+				if (is_ntfs_dotgit(path))
+					return 0;
+				if (S_ISLNK(mode)) {
+					if (is_ntfs_dotgitmodules(path))
+						return 0;
+				}
+			}
+
 			c = *path++;
-			if ((c == '.' && !verify_dotfile(path)) ||
+			if ((c == '.' && !verify_dotfile(path, mode)) ||
 			    is_dir_sep(c) || c == '\0')
 				return 0;
 		}
@@ -1166,7 +1188,7 @@
 
 	if (!ok_to_add)
 		return -1;
-	if (!verify_path(ce->name))
+	if (!verify_path(ce->name, ce->ce_mode))
 		return error("Invalid path '%s'", ce->name);
 
 	if (!skip_df_check &&