diff --git a/Documentation/git-cat-file.adoc b/Documentation/git-cat-file.adoc
index 5c002c0499..180d1ad363 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-cat-file.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-cat-file.adoc
@@ -373,6 +373,14 @@ If a name is specified that might refer to more than one object (an ambiguous sh
 <object> SP ambiguous LF
 ------------
 
+If a name is specified that refers to a submodule entry in a tree and the
+target object does not exist in the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore
+any custom format and print (with the object ID of the submodule):
+
+------------
+<oid> SP submodule LF
+------------
+
 If `--follow-symlinks` is used, and a symlink in the repository points
 outside the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format
 and print:
diff --git a/builtin/cat-file.c b/builtin/cat-file.c
index b11576756b..4b23fcecbd 100644
--- a/builtin/cat-file.c
+++ b/builtin/cat-file.c
@@ -496,7 +496,10 @@ static void batch_object_write(const char *obj_name,
 						       &data->oid, &data->info,
 						       OBJECT_INFO_LOOKUP_REPLACE);
 		if (ret < 0) {
-			report_object_status(opt, obj_name, &data->oid, "missing");
+			if (data->mode == S_IFGITLINK)
+				report_object_status(opt, oid_to_hex(&data->oid), &data->oid, "submodule");
+			else
+				report_object_status(opt, obj_name, &data->oid, "missing");
 			return;
 		}
 
diff --git a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
index 97052b3f31..f123ef1e36 100755
--- a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
+++ b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
@@ -1220,6 +1220,31 @@ test_expect_success 'cat-file --batch-check respects replace objects' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'batch-check with a submodule' '
+	# FIXME: this call to mktree is incompatible with compatObjectFormat
+	# because the submodule OID cannot be mapped to the compat hash algo.
+	test_unconfig extensions.compatobjectformat &&
+	printf "160000 commit $(test_oid deadbeef)\tsub\n" >tree-with-sub &&
+	tree=$(git mktree <tree-with-sub) &&
+	test_config extensions.compatobjectformat $test_compat_hash_algo &&
+
+	git cat-file --batch-check >actual <<-EOF &&
+	$tree:sub
+	EOF
+	printf "$(test_oid deadbeef) submodule\n" >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'batch-check with a submodule, object exists' '
+	printf "160000 commit $commit_oid\tsub\n" >tree-with-sub &&
+	tree=$(git mktree <tree-with-sub) &&
+	git cat-file --batch-check >actual <<-EOF &&
+	$tree:sub
+	EOF
+	printf "$commit_oid commit $commit_size\n" >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 # Pull the entry for object with oid "$1" out of the output of
 # "cat-file --batch", including its object content (which requires
 # parsing and reading a set amount of bytes, hence perl).