diff --git a/src/kernel/emulation/linux/unistd/fchmodat.c b/src/kernel/emulation/linux/unistd/fchmodat.c
index da1a298b1..4e79db95f 100644
--- a/src/kernel/emulation/linux/unistd/fchmodat.c
+++ b/src/kernel/emulation/linux/unistd/fchmodat.c
@@ -6,8 +6,54 @@
 #include "../vchroot_expand.h"
 #include <mach/lkm.h>
 #include <lkm/api.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include "../stat/common.h"
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 
 extern char* strcpy(char* dst, const char* src);
+extern long close_internal(int fd);
+
+#ifndef LINUX_O_PATH
+	#define LINUX_O_PATH 0x200000
+#endif
+#ifndef LINUX_O_NOFOLLOW
+	#define LINUX_O_NOFOLLOW 0x0100
+#endif
+#ifndef LINUX_O_CLOEXEC
+	#define LINUX_O_CLOEXEC 0x1000000
+#endif
+#ifndef LINUX_AT_EMPTY_PATH
+	#define LINUX_AT_EMPTY_PATH 0x1000
+#endif
+
+#ifndef __NR_fstatat64
+	#define __NR_fstatat64 __NR_newfstatat
+#endif
+
+int do_linux_fchmodat(int fd, const char* path, int mode, int flag) {
+	if (flag == 0) {
+		return LINUX_SYSCALL(__NR_fchmodat, fd, path, mode);
+	} else {
+		struct linux_stat st;
+		if (LINUX_SYSCALL(__NR_fstatat64, fd, path, &st, LINUX_AT_EMPTY_PATH | LINUX_AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) != 0)
+			return -1;
+
+		// on Linux, symlinks can't be chmodded (only their targets)
+		//
+		// we can't open a file handle directly on the symlink
+		// and do fchmod/chmod on that because Linux ignores us
+		// and follows the symlink anyways
+		//
+		// this still happens even if we try to open a file handle to
+		// the symlink and modify it through `/proc/self/fd`
+		//
+		// so instead, just return success
+		if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode))
+			return 0;
+
+		return LINUX_SYSCALL(__NR_fchmodat, fd, path, mode);
+	}
+};
 
 long sys_fchmodat(int fd, const char* path, int mode, int flag)
 {
@@ -23,7 +69,7 @@ long sys_fchmodat(int fd, const char* path, int mode, int flag)
 	if (ret < 0)
 		return errno_linux_to_bsd(ret);
 
-	ret = LINUX_SYSCALL(__NR_fchmodat, vc.dfd, vc.path, mode, atflags_bsd_to_linux(flag));
+	ret = do_linux_fchmodat(vc.dfd, vc.path, mode, atflags_bsd_to_linux(flag));
 	if (ret < 0)
 		ret = errno_linux_to_bsd(ret);
 
diff --git a/src/kernel/emulation/linux/xattr/setattrlist_generic.c b/src/kernel/emulation/linux/xattr/setattrlist_generic.c
index f9b499425..2fe8219b9 100644
--- a/src/kernel/emulation/linux/xattr/setattrlist_generic.c
+++ b/src/kernel/emulation/linux/xattr/setattrlist_generic.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <stddef.h>
 
 extern char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src);
+extern int do_linux_fchmodat(int fd, const char* path, int mode, int flag);
 
 #define ATTR_BIT_MAP_COUNT 5
 
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ struct attrlist* alist, void *attributeBuffer, __SIZE_TYPE__ bufferSize, unsigne
 	{
 		int perms = *((int*) next);
 #if HAS_PATH
-		rv = LINUX_SYSCALL(__NR_chmod, vc.path, perms);
+		rv = do_linux_fchmodat(LINUX_AT_FDCWD, vc.path, perms, LINUX_AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW);
 #else
 		rv = LINUX_SYSCALL(__NR_fchmod, fd, perms);
 #endif