diff --git a/src/basic/fs-util.c b/src/basic/fs-util.c
index 92ceb3b352..c3d2b6e052 100644
--- a/src/basic/fs-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/fs-util.c
@@ -1114,8 +1114,27 @@ int openat_report_new(int dirfd, const char *pathname, int flags, mode_t mode, b
                 if (errno != EEXIST)
                         return -errno;
 
-                /* Hmm, so now we got EEXIST? So it apparently exists now? If so, let's try to open again
-                 * without the two flags. But let's not spin forever, hence put a limit on things */
+                /* Hmm, so now we got EEXIST? This can indicate two things. First, if the path points to a
+                 * dangling symlink, the first openat() will fail with ENOENT because the symlink is resolved
+                 * and the second openat() will fail with EEXIST because symlinks are not followed when
+                 * O_CREAT|O_EXCL is specified. Let's check for this explicitly and fall back to opening with
+                 * just O_CREAT and assume we're the ones that created the file. */
+
+                struct stat st;
+                if (fstatat(dirfd, pathname, &st, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) < 0)
+                        return -errno;
+
+                if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) {
+                        fd = openat(dirfd, pathname, flags | O_CREAT, mode);
+                        if (fd < 0)
+                                return -errno;
+
+                        *ret_newly_created = true;
+                        return fd;
+                }
+
+                /* If we're not operating on a symlink, someone might have created the file between the first
+                 * and second call to openat(). Let's try again but with a limit so we don't spin forever. */
 
                 if (--attempts == 0) /* Give up eventually, somebody is playing with us */
                         return -EEXIST;
diff --git a/src/test/test-fs-util.c b/src/test/test-fs-util.c
index f2fa51f55f..8139af83ce 100644
--- a/src/test/test-fs-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-fs-util.c
@@ -667,6 +667,17 @@ TEST(openat_report_new) {
         ASSERT_OK(fd);
         fd = safe_close(fd);
         ASSERT_TRUE(b);
+
+        ASSERT_OK_ERRNO(symlinkat("target", tfd, "link"));
+        fd = openat_report_new(tfd, "link", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, &b);
+        ASSERT_OK(fd);
+        fd = safe_close(fd);
+        ASSERT_TRUE(b);
+
+        fd = openat_report_new(tfd, "link", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, &b);
+        ASSERT_OK(fd);
+        fd = safe_close(fd);
+        ASSERT_FALSE(b);
 }
 
 TEST(xopenat_full) {