diff --git a/src/basic/fd-util.c b/src/basic/fd-util.c
index 310f5b82b5..e0dcbcecd1 100644
--- a/src/basic/fd-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/fd-util.c
@@ -978,7 +978,10 @@ int fd_vet_accmode(int fd, int mode) {
         if (flags < 0)
                 return -errno;
 
-        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, O_DIRECTORY))
+        /* O_TMPFILE in userspace is defined with O_DIRECTORY OR'ed in, so explicitly permit it.
+         *
+         * C.f. https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/v6.17.7/source/include/uapi/asm-generic/fcntl.h#L92 */
+        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, O_DIRECTORY) && !FLAGS_SET(flags, O_TMPFILE))
                 return -EISDIR;
 
         if (FLAGS_SET(flags, O_PATH))
diff --git a/src/basic/fs-util.c b/src/basic/fs-util.c
index 8cbe29fc0f..893e95c3c1 100644
--- a/src/basic/fs-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/fs-util.c
@@ -868,10 +868,8 @@ int open_parent_at(int dir_fd, const char *path, int flags, mode_t mode) {
         /* Let's insist on O_DIRECTORY since the parent of a file or directory is a directory. Except if we open an
          * O_TMPFILE file, because in that case we are actually create a regular file below the parent directory. */
 
-        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, O_PATH))
+        if (!FLAGS_SET(flags, O_TMPFILE))
                 flags |= O_DIRECTORY;
-        else if (!FLAGS_SET(flags, O_TMPFILE))
-                flags |= O_DIRECTORY|O_RDONLY;
 
         return RET_NERRNO(openat(dir_fd, parent, flags, mode));
 }