diff --git a/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue b/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue
index c898b1df60..1e7a378a34 100644
--- a/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue
+++ b/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ const onItemClick = (e: MouseEvent) => {
   // - the user didn't press any special key like "Ctrl+Click" (which may have custom browser behavior)
   // - the editor/commit form isn't dirty (a full page reload shows a confirmation dialog if the form contains unsaved changes)
   if (!isPlainClick(e) || shouldTriggerAreYouSure()) return;
+  // submodules (commit entry mode) point to external repos, let the browser handle navigation normally
+  if (props.item.entryMode === 'commit') return;
   e.preventDefault();
   if (props.item.entryMode === 'tree') doLoadChildren();
   store.navigateTreeView(props.item.fullPath);
diff --git a/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeStore.ts b/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeStore.ts
index 4237f7e323..1da732a4b8 100644
--- a/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeStore.ts
+++ b/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeStore.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ export function createViewFileTreeStore(props: {repoLink: string, treePath: stri
       const u = new URL(url, window.origin);
       u.searchParams.set('only_content', 'true');
       const response = await GET(u.href);
-      const elViewContent = document.querySelector('.repo-view-content')!;
+      const elViewContent = document.querySelector('.repo-view-content');
+      if (!elViewContent) return;
       elViewContent.innerHTML = await response.text();
       const elViewContentData = elViewContent.querySelector('.repo-view-content-data');
       if (!elViewContentData) return; // if error occurs, there is no such element