diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/util/SubmoduleSectionParser.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/util/SubmoduleSectionParser.java
index 7310703c0d..df2e123aea 100644
--- a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/util/SubmoduleSectionParser.java
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/util/SubmoduleSectionParser.java
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public class SubmoduleSectionParser {
           && branch != null && branch.length() > 0) {
         // All required fields filled.
 
-        boolean urlIsRelative = url.startsWith("/");
+        boolean urlIsRelative = url.startsWith("../");
         String server = null;
         if (!urlIsRelative) {
           // It is actually an URI. It could be ssh://localhost/project-a.