diff --git a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
index 5c520ac068..72781a49b7 100644
--- a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
+++ b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
@@ -2249,8 +2249,8 @@ static int copy_files(Context *c, Item *i) {
         if (fstat(fd, &st) < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to fstat(%s): %m", i->path);
 
-        if (stat(i->argument, &a) < 0)
-                return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to stat(%s): %m", i->argument);
+        if (lstat(i->argument, &a) < 0)
+                return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to lstat(%s): %m", i->argument);
 
         if (((st.st_mode ^ a.st_mode) & S_IFMT) != 0) {
                 log_debug("Can't copy to %s, file exists already and is of different type", i->path);
diff --git a/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.03.sh b/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.03.sh
index c36f8f8790..390932ec97 100755
--- a/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.03.sh
+++ b/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.03.sh
@@ -209,6 +209,15 @@ test ! -e /tmp/C-copy-failure-dst/file
 chmod 755 /tmp/C-copy-failure-dst
 rm -rf /tmp/C-copy-failure-src /tmp/C-copy-failure-dst
 
+rm -f /tmp/C-copy-link-src /tmp/C-copy-link-dst
+ln -s missing-target /tmp/C-copy-link-src
+systemd-tmpfiles --create - <<EOF
+C     /tmp/C-copy-link-dst    - - - - /tmp/C-copy-link-src
+EOF
+test -L /tmp/C-copy-link-dst
+test "$(readlink /tmp/C-copy-link-dst)" = "missing-target"
+rm -f /tmp/C-copy-link-src /tmp/C-copy-link-dst
+
 #
 # 'w'
 #