diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StatusCommandTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StatusCommandTest.java
index 19281f6c993..a8023562ea4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StatusCommandTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StatusCommandTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) 2011, Christian Halstrick <christian.halstrick@sap.com> and others
+ * Copyright (C) 2011, 2026 Christian Halstrick <christian.halstrick@sap.com> and others
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 which is available at
@@ -30,6 +30,26 @@
 
 public class StatusCommandTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
 
+	@Test
+	public void testRelativeCoreExcludesFile() throws Exception {
+		try (Git git = new Git(db)) {
+			writeTrashFile("sub/myexclusions", "ignoring\n");
+			FileBasedConfig config = db.getConfig();
+			config.setString("core", null, "excludesFile", "sub/myexclusions");
+			config.save();
+			writeTrashFile("foo", "foo");
+			writeTrashFile("ignoring", "foo");
+			writeTrashFile("sub/foo", "foo");
+			writeTrashFile("sub/ignoring", "foo");
+
+			Status stat = git.status().call();
+			assertEquals(Sets.of("foo", "sub/foo", "sub/myexclusions"),
+					stat.getUntracked());
+			assertEquals(Sets.of("ignoring", "sub/ignoring"),
+					stat.getIgnoredNotInIndex());
+		}
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testEmptyStatus() throws NoWorkTreeException,
 			GitAPIException {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/ignore/IgnoreNodeTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/ignore/IgnoreNodeTest.java
index ab08c997969..d5b3a524b38 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/ignore/IgnoreNodeTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/ignore/IgnoreNodeTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) 2010, Red Hat Inc. and others
+ * Copyright (C) 2010, 2026 Red Hat Inc. and others
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 which is available at
@@ -58,6 +58,32 @@ public void closeWalk() {
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testRelativeCoreExcludesFileResolvedAgainstWorkTree()
+			throws Exception {
+		// C Git resolves a relative core.excludesFile against the work tree
+		// root, not the process current directory. See
+		// https://github.com/eclipse-jgit/jgit/issues/280
+		writeIgnoreFile("sub/myexclusions", "ignoring");
+		db.getConfig().setString("core", null, "excludesFile",
+				"sub/myexclusions");
+		db.getConfig().save();
+
+		writeTrashFile("foo", "foo");
+		writeTrashFile("ignoring", "foo");
+		writeTrashFile("sub/foo", "foo");
+		writeTrashFile("sub/ignoring", "foo");
+
+		beginWalk();
+		assertEntry(F, tracked, "foo");
+		assertEntry(F, ignored, "ignoring");
+		assertEntry(D, tracked, "sub");
+		assertEntry(F, tracked, "sub/foo");
+		assertEntry(F, ignored, "sub/ignoring");
+		assertEntry(F, tracked, "sub/myexclusions");
+		endWalk();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testSimpleRootGitIgnoreGlobalIgnore() throws IOException {
 		writeIgnoreFile(".gitignore", "x");
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
index f16d800f630..bd1689d40c6 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Christian Halstrick <christian.halstrick@sap.com>
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Matthias Sohn <matthias.sohn@sap.com>
- * Copyright (C) 2012, 2022, Robin Rosenberg and others
+ * Copyright (C) 2012, 2026, Robin Rosenberg and others
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 which is available at
@@ -1291,9 +1291,12 @@ private static class RootIgnoreNode extends PerDirectoryIgnoreNode {
 		IgnoreNode load(IgnoreNode parent) throws IOException {
 			IgnoreNode coreExclude = new IgnoreNodeWithParent(parent);
 			FS fs = repository.getFS();
+			// C Git resolves a relative core.excludesFile against the work
+			// tree root (it chdirs there). Do not use the process CWD.
 			Path path = repository.getConfig().getPath(
 					ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
-					ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_EXCLUDESFILE, fs, null, null);
+					ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_EXCLUDESFILE, fs,
+					repository.getWorkTree(), null);
 			if (path != null) {
 				if (Files.exists(path)) {
 					loadRulesFromFile(coreExclude, path.toFile());