diff --git a/Documentation/config/rebase.txt b/Documentation/config/rebase.txt
index 8c979cb20f..f19bd0e040 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/rebase.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/rebase.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ rebase.autoStash::
 	`--autostash` options of linkgit:git-rebase[1].
 	Defaults to false.
 
+rebase.updateRefs::
+	If set to true enable `--update-refs` option by default.
+
 rebase.missingCommitsCheck::
 	If set to "warn", git rebase -i will print a warning if some
 	commits are removed (e.g. a line was deleted), however the
diff --git a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
index dfd847d661..305255f1e1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
@@ -614,6 +614,9 @@ start would be overridden by the presence of
 	Automatically force-update any branches that point to commits that
 	are being rebased. Any branches that are checked out in a worktree
 	are not updated in this way.
++
+If the configuration variable `rebase.updateRefs` is set, then this option
+can be used to override and disable this setting.
 
 INCOMPATIBLE OPTIONS
 --------------------
diff --git a/builtin/rebase.c b/builtin/rebase.c
index 2497533e8f..56e4214b44 100644
--- a/builtin/rebase.c
+++ b/builtin/rebase.c
@@ -802,6 +802,11 @@ static int rebase_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *data)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(var, "rebase.updaterefs")) {
+		opts->update_refs = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (!strcmp(var, "rebase.reschedulefailedexec")) {
 		opts->reschedule_failed_exec = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
diff --git a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
index bebf9b4def..1a27bb0626 100755
--- a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
+++ b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
@@ -1772,6 +1772,12 @@ test_expect_success '--update-refs adds label and update-ref commands' '
 		EOF
 
 		test_must_fail git rebase -i --autosquash --update-refs primary >todo &&
+		test_cmp expect todo &&
+
+		test_must_fail git -c rebase.autosquash=true \
+				   -c rebase.updaterefs=true \
+				   rebase -i primary >todo &&
+
 		test_cmp expect todo
 	)
 '
@@ -1813,6 +1819,14 @@ test_expect_success '--update-refs adds commands with --rebase-merges' '
 				   --rebase-merges=rebase-cousins \
 				   --update-refs primary >todo &&
 
+		test_cmp expect todo &&
+
+		test_must_fail git -c rebase.autosquash=true \
+				   -c rebase.updaterefs=true \
+				   rebase -i \
+				   --rebase-merges=rebase-cousins \
+				   primary >todo &&
+
 		test_cmp expect todo
 	)
 '