diff --git a/swh/vault/cookers/git_bare.py b/swh/vault/cookers/git_bare.py
--- a/swh/vault/cookers/git_bare.py
+++ b/swh/vault/cookers/git_bare.py
@@ -515,14 +515,15 @@
         self.write_object(obj_id, git_object)
 
         # Add children to the stack
-        entry_loaders: Dict[str, List[Sha1Git]] = {
+        entry_loaders: Dict[str, Optional[List[Sha1Git]]] = {
             "file": self._cnt_stack,
             "dir": self._dir_stack,
-            "rev": self._rev_stack,
+            "rev": None,  # Do not include submodule targets (rejected by git-fsck)
         }
         for entry in directory["entries"]:
             stack = entry_loaders[entry["type"]]
-            self._push(stack, [entry["target"]])
+            if stack is not None:
+                self._push(stack, [entry["target"]])
 
     def load_contents(self, obj_ids: List[Sha1Git]) -> None:
         # TODO: add support of filtered objects, somehow?
diff --git a/swh/vault/tests/test_cookers.py b/swh/vault/tests/test_cookers.py
--- a/swh/vault/tests/test_cookers.py
+++ b/swh/vault/tests/test_cookers.py
@@ -972,20 +972,33 @@
         with cook_extract_revision(loader.storage, swhid, fsck=False) as (ert, p):
             self.check_revision_null_fields(ert, p, swhid)
 
-    def test_revision_submodule(self, swh_storage, cook_extract_revision):
-        target_rev = "0e8a3ad980ec179856012b7eecf4327e99cd44cd"
-
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("ingest_target_revision", [False, True])
+    def test_revision_submodule(
+        self, swh_storage, cook_extract_revision, ingest_target_revision
+    ):
         date = TimestampWithTimezone.from_datetime(
             datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc).replace(microsecond=0)
         )
 
+        target_rev = Revision(
+            message=b"target_rev",
+            author=Person.from_fullname(b"me <test@example.org>"),
+            date=date,
+            committer=Person.from_fullname(b"me <test@example.org>"),
+            committer_date=date,
+            parents=(),
+            type=RevisionType.GIT,
+            directory=bytes.fromhex("3333333333333333333333333333333333333333"),
+            metadata={},
+            synthetic=True,
+        )
+        if ingest_target_revision:
+            swh_storage.revision_add([target_rev])
+
         dir = Directory(
             entries=(
                 DirectoryEntry(
-                    name=b"submodule",
-                    type="rev",
-                    target=hashutil.hash_to_bytes(target_rev),
-                    perms=0o160000,
+                    name=b"submodule", type="rev", target=target_rev.id, perms=0o160000,
                 ),
             ),
         )
@@ -1007,7 +1020,7 @@
 
         with cook_extract_revision(swh_storage, rev.swhid()) as (ert, p):
             ert.checkout(b"HEAD")
-            pattern = b"160000 submodule\x00%s" % hashutil.hash_to_bytes(target_rev)
+            pattern = b"160000 submodule\x00%s" % target_rev.id
             tree = ert.repo[b"HEAD"].tree
             assert pattern in ert.repo[tree].as_raw_string()