diff --git a/git-review.1 b/git-review.1
index 15a4bd83..d821c6e1 100644
--- a/git-review.1
+++ b/git-review.1
@@ -147,6 +147,9 @@ Don\(aqt actually perform any commands that have direct effects. Print them
 instead.
 .It Fl r Ar remote , Fl \-remote= Ns Ar remote
 Git remote to use for Gerrit.
+.It Fl \-remote\-hook
+When installing the commit-msg hook, fetch it from the remote rather than using
+the built-in version.
 .It Fl s , Fl \-setup
 Just run the repo setup commands but don\(aqt submit anything.
 .It Fl t Ar topic , Fl \-topic= Ns Ar topic
diff --git a/git_review/cmd.py b/git_review/cmd.py
index fc600dbe..85cb4c40 100644
--- a/git_review/cmd.py
+++ b/git_review/cmd.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 from __future__ import print_function
 
+from . import hooks
+
 import argparse
 import configparser
 import datetime
@@ -385,7 +387,10 @@ def set_hooks_commit_msg(remote, target_file):
 
     if not os.path.exists(target_file) or UPDATE:
         remote_url = get_remote_url(remote)
-        if (remote_url.startswith('http://') or
+        if not remote_url:
+            with open(target_file, 'w') as f:
+                f.write(hooks.COMMIT_MSG)
+        elif (remote_url.startswith('http://') or
                 remote_url.startswith('https://')):
             hook_url = urljoin(remote_url, '/tools/hooks/commit-msg')
             if VERBOSE:
@@ -575,6 +580,11 @@ def get_remote_url(remote):
     URL rather than the fetch URL.
     """
 
+    # Short-circuit to a false value if the remote passed in is falsey, used
+    # for determining commit-msg hook retrieval behavior
+    if not remote:
+        return remote
+
     push_url = git_config_get_value('remote.%s' % remote, 'pushurl')
     if push_url is not None:
         # Git rewrites pushurl using insteadOf but not pushInsteadOf.
@@ -1564,6 +1574,9 @@ additional information:
                         help="Regenerate Change-id before submitting")
     parser.add_argument("-r", "--remote", dest="remote",
                         help="git remote to use for gerrit")
+    parser.add_argument("--remote-hook", dest="remote_hook",
+                        action="store_true",
+                        help="Fetch the remote version of the commit-msg hook")
     parser.add_argument("--use-pushurl", dest="usepushurl",
                         action="store_true",
                         help="Use remote push-url logic instead of separate"
@@ -1798,7 +1811,10 @@ additional information:
     have_hook = os.path.exists(hook_file) and os.access(hook_file, os.X_OK)
 
     if not have_hook:
-        set_hooks_commit_msg(remote, hook_file)
+        if options.remote_hook:
+            set_hooks_commit_msg(remote, hook_file)
+        else:
+            set_hooks_commit_msg(None, hook_file)
 
     if options.setup:
         if options.finish and not options.dry:
diff --git a/git_review/hooks.py b/git_review/hooks.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1c088d25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git_review/hooks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2009 The Android Open Source Project
+# Copyright OpenDev Contributors
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+# not use this file except in compliance with the License.  You may obtain
+# a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+# Because wheels are unable to embed and install data files, we store
+# our vendored copy of the Gerrit commit-msg hook script in a string and
+# write it into place at runtime.
+
+# Taken from https://gerrit.googlesource.com/gerrit/+/refs/heads/master
+# /resources/com/google/gerrit/server/tools/root/hooks/commit-msg as of
+# commit 05d6470 on 2024-02-21.
+
+COMMIT_MSG = r"""#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Part of Gerrit Code Review (https://www.gerritcodereview.com/)
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2009 The Android Open Source Project
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -u
+
+# avoid [[ which is not POSIX sh.
+if test "$#" != 1 ; then
+  echo "$0 requires an argument."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if test ! -f "$1" ; then
+  echo "file does not exist: $1"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Do not create a change id if requested
+case "$(git config --get gerrit.createChangeId)" in
+  false)
+    exit 0
+    ;;
+  always)
+    ;;
+  *)
+    # Do not create a change id for squash/fixup commits.
+    if head -n1 "$1" | LC_ALL=C grep -q '^[a-z][a-z]*! '; then
+      exit 0
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac
+
+
+if git rev-parse --verify HEAD >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  refhash="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
+else
+  refhash="$(git hash-object -t tree /dev/null)"
+fi
+
+random=$({ git var GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT ; echo "$refhash" ; cat "$1"; } | git hash-object --stdin)
+dest="$1.tmp.${random}"
+
+trap 'rm -f "$dest" "$dest-2"' EXIT
+
+if ! cat "$1" | sed -e '/>8/q' | git stripspace --strip-comments > "${dest}" ; then
+   echo "cannot strip comments from $1"
+   exit 1
+fi
+
+if test ! -s "${dest}" ; then
+  echo "file is empty: $1"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+reviewurl="$(git config --get gerrit.reviewUrl)"
+if test -n "${reviewurl}" ; then
+  token="Link"
+  value="${reviewurl%/}/id/I$random"
+  pattern=".*/id/I[0-9a-f]\{40\}"
+else
+  token="Change-Id"
+  value="I$random"
+  pattern=".*"
+fi
+
+if git interpret-trailers --parse < "$1" | grep -q "^$token: $pattern$" ; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# There must be a Signed-off-by trailer for the code below to work. Insert a
+# sentinel at the end to make sure there is one.
+# Avoid the --in-place option which only appeared in Git 2.8
+if ! git interpret-trailers \
+         --trailer "Signed-off-by: SENTINEL" < "$1" > "$dest-2" ; then
+  echo "cannot insert Signed-off-by sentinel line in $1"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Make sure the trailer appears before any Signed-off-by trailers by inserting
+# it as if it was a Signed-off-by trailer and then use sed to remove the
+# Signed-off-by prefix and the Signed-off-by sentinel line.
+# Avoid the --in-place option which only appeared in Git 2.8
+# Avoid the --where option which only appeared in Git 2.15
+if ! git -c trailer.where=before interpret-trailers \
+         --trailer "Signed-off-by: $token: $value" < "$dest-2" |
+     sed -e "s/^Signed-off-by: \($token: \)/\1/" \
+         -e "/^Signed-off-by: SENTINEL/d" > "$dest" ; then
+  echo "cannot insert $token line in $1"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! mv "${dest}" "$1" ; then
+  echo "cannot mv ${dest} to $1"
+  exit 1
+fi
+"""  # noqa
diff --git a/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py b/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py
index b7965dbf..155d3425 100644
--- a/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py
+++ b/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py
@@ -105,6 +105,24 @@ class GitReviewTestCase(tests.BaseGitReviewTestCase):
         self._run_git_review(
             '-s', chdir=os.path.join(self.test_dir, 'subdirectory'))
 
+    def test_install_embedded_hook(self):
+        """Test whether git-review -s correctly creates the commit-msg hook
+        from the embedded copy with appropriate permissions and content.
+        """
+        hooks_subdir = ".git/hooks"
+        hook_file = os.path.join(self.test_dir, hooks_subdir, 'commit-msg')
+        self.reset_remote()
+
+        self._run_git_review('-s')
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.exists(hook_file))
+        self.assertTrue(os.access(hook_file, os.W_OK))
+        self.assertTrue(os.access(hook_file, os.X_OK))
+        with open(hook_file) as f:
+            content = f.read()
+            self.assertTrue(content.startswith('#!/'))
+            # This line should not appear in the embedded version
+            self.assertNotIn('# From Gerrit Code Review', content)
+
     def test_install_remote_hook(self):
         """Test whether git-review -s correctly creates the commit-msg hook
         from the Gerrit server with appropriate permissions and content.
@@ -113,7 +131,7 @@ class GitReviewTestCase(tests.BaseGitReviewTestCase):
         hook_file = os.path.join(self.test_dir, hooks_subdir, 'commit-msg')
         self.reset_remote()
 
-        self._run_git_review('-s')
+        self._run_git_review('-s', '--remote-hook')
         self.assertTrue(os.path.exists(hook_file))
         self.assertTrue(os.access(hook_file, os.W_OK))
         self.assertTrue(os.access(hook_file, os.X_OK))
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/emmbed-commit-msg-hook-87509c496b561f97.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/emmbed-commit-msg-hook-87509c496b561f97.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..88d473a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/emmbed-commit-msg-hook-87509c496b561f97.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    A copy of the Gerrit upstream project's commit-msg hook is now included
+    directly and written to disk by default rather than pulling a remote copy.
+    This approach is safer and more robust, but may break workflows for sites
+    which rely on users retrieving a customized commit-msg hook. For this
+    reason, a command-line override is provided so that users can, for example,
+    execute `git review -s --remote-hook` to get the old behavior when setting
+    up a new clone.