diff --git a/src/core/execute.c b/src/core/execute.c
index bcd761b755..11d707b59c 100644
--- a/src/core/execute.c
+++ b/src/core/execute.c
@@ -2689,7 +2689,7 @@ static int setup_exec_directory(
                 /* Then, change the ownership of the whole tree, if necessary. When dynamic users are used we
                  * drop the suid/sgid bits, since we really don't want SUID/SGID files for dynamic UID/GID
                  * assignments to exist. */
-                r = path_chown_recursive(pp ?: p, uid, gid, context->dynamic_user ? 01777 : 07777);
+                r = path_chown_recursive(pp ?: p, uid, gid, context->dynamic_user ? 01777 : 07777, AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW);
                 if (r < 0)
                         goto fail;
         }
diff --git a/src/shared/chown-recursive.c b/src/shared/chown-recursive.c
index 883c1ccee4..6aa5f6723e 100644
--- a/src/shared/chown-recursive.c
+++ b/src/shared/chown-recursive.c
@@ -111,12 +111,15 @@ int path_chown_recursive(
                 const char *path,
                 uid_t uid,
                 gid_t gid,
-                mode_t mask) {
+                mode_t mask,
+                int flags) {
 
         _cleanup_close_ int fd = -EBADF;
         struct stat st;
 
-        fd = open(path, O_RDONLY|O_DIRECTORY|O_CLOEXEC|O_NOFOLLOW|O_NOATIME);
+        assert((flags & ~AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW) == 0);
+
+        fd = open(path, O_RDONLY|O_DIRECTORY|O_CLOEXEC|O_NOATIME|(FLAGS_SET(flags, AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW) ? 0 : O_NOFOLLOW));
         if (fd < 0)
                 return -errno;
 
diff --git a/src/shared/chown-recursive.h b/src/shared/chown-recursive.h
index 00038c3b32..2aab8e7414 100644
--- a/src/shared/chown-recursive.h
+++ b/src/shared/chown-recursive.h
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
-int path_chown_recursive(const char *path, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, mode_t mask);
+int path_chown_recursive(const char *path, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, mode_t mask, int flags);
 
 int fd_chown_recursive(int fd, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, mode_t mask);
diff --git a/src/test/test-chown-rec.c b/src/test/test-chown-rec.c
index 801b49f7b7..dcff17efec 100644
--- a/src/test/test-chown-rec.c
+++ b/src/test/test-chown-rec.c
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ TEST(chown_recursive) {
         assert_se(st.st_gid == gid);
         assert_se(has_xattr(p));
 
-        assert_se(path_chown_recursive(t, 1, 2, 07777) >= 0);
+        assert_se(path_chown_recursive(t, 1, 2, 07777, 0) >= 0);
 
         p = strjoina(t, "/dir");
         assert_se(lstat(p, &st) >= 0);