diff --git a/range-diff.c b/range-diff.c
index 60edb2f518..bd8083f2d1 100644
--- a/range-diff.c
+++ b/range-diff.c
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ static struct diff_filespec *get_filespec(const char *name, const char *p)
 {
 	struct diff_filespec *spec = alloc_filespec(name);
 
-	fill_filespec(spec, &null_oid, 0, 0644);
+	fill_filespec(spec, &null_oid, 0, 0100644);
 	spec->data = (char *)p;
 	spec->size = strlen(p);
 	spec->should_munmap = 0;
diff --git a/t/t3206-range-diff.sh b/t/t3206-range-diff.sh
index 045aca1c18..6aae364171 100755
--- a/t/t3206-range-diff.sh
+++ b/t/t3206-range-diff.sh
@@ -122,6 +122,35 @@ test_expect_success 'changed commit' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'changed commit with sm config' '
+	git range-diff --no-color --submodule=log topic...changed >actual &&
+	cat >expected <<-EOF &&
+	1:  4de457d = 1:  a4b3333 s/5/A/
+	2:  fccce22 = 2:  f51d370 s/4/A/
+	3:  147e64e ! 3:  0559556 s/11/B/
+	    @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
+	      9
+	      10
+	     -11
+	    -+B
+	    ++BB
+	      12
+	      13
+	      14
+	4:  a63e992 ! 4:  d966c5c s/12/B/
+	    @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
+	     @@
+	      9
+	      10
+	    - B
+	    + BB
+	     -12
+	     +B
+	      13
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expected actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'no commits on one side' '
 	git commit --amend -m "new message" &&
 	git range-diff master HEAD@{1} HEAD