diff --git a/apply.c b/apply.c
index 359ceb632c..4a4e9a0158 100644
--- a/apply.c
+++ b/apply.c
@@ -4409,7 +4409,7 @@ static int create_one_file(struct apply_state *state,
 		return 0;
 
 	if (errno == ENOENT) {
-		if (safe_create_leading_directories(path))
+		if (safe_create_leading_directories_no_share(path))
 			return 0;
 		res = try_create_file(state, path, mode, buf, size);
 		if (res < 0)
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index e986cf4ea9..8d279bc110 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1255,7 +1255,11 @@ int adjust_shared_perm(const char *path);
  * safe_create_leading_directories() temporarily changes path while it
  * is working but restores it before returning.
  * safe_create_leading_directories_const() doesn't modify path, even
- * temporarily.
+ * temporarily. Both these variants adjust the permissions of the
+ * created directories to honor core.sharedRepository, so they are best
+ * suited for files inside the git dir. For working tree files, use
+ * safe_create_leading_directories_no_share() instead, as it ignores
+ * the core.sharedRepository setting.
  */
 enum scld_error {
 	SCLD_OK = 0,
@@ -1266,6 +1270,7 @@ enum scld_error {
 };
 enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories(char *path);
 enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories_const(const char *path);
+enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories_no_share(char *path);
 
 /*
  * Callback function for raceproof_create_file(). This function is
diff --git a/sha1-file.c b/sha1-file.c
index dd65bd5c68..c3c49d2fa5 100644
--- a/sha1-file.c
+++ b/sha1-file.c
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ int mkdir_in_gitdir(const char *path)
 	return adjust_shared_perm(path);
 }
 
-enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories(char *path)
+static enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories_1(char *path, int share)
 {
 	char *next_component = path + offset_1st_component(path);
 	enum scld_error ret = SCLD_OK;
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories(char *path)
 				ret = SCLD_VANISHED;
 			else
 				ret = SCLD_FAILED;
-		} else if (adjust_shared_perm(path)) {
+		} else if (share && adjust_shared_perm(path)) {
 			ret = SCLD_PERMS;
 		}
 		*slash = slash_character;
@@ -345,6 +345,16 @@ enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories(char *path)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories(char *path)
+{
+	return safe_create_leading_directories_1(path, 1);
+}
+
+enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories_no_share(char *path)
+{
+	return safe_create_leading_directories_1(path, 0);
+}
+
 enum scld_error safe_create_leading_directories_const(const char *path)
 {
 	int save_errno;
diff --git a/t/t4129-apply-samemode.sh b/t/t4129-apply-samemode.sh
index 5cdd76dfa7..41818d8315 100755
--- a/t/t4129-apply-samemode.sh
+++ b/t/t4129-apply-samemode.sh
@@ -73,4 +73,30 @@ test_expect_success FILEMODE 'bogus mode is rejected' '
 	test_i18ngrep "invalid mode" err
 '
 
+test_expect_success POSIXPERM 'do not use core.sharedRepository for working tree files' '
+	git reset --hard &&
+	test_config core.sharedRepository 0666 &&
+	(
+		# Remove a default ACL if possible.
+		(setfacl -k newdir 2>/dev/null || true) &&
+		umask 0077 &&
+
+		# Test both files (f1) and leading dirs (d)
+		mkdir d &&
+		touch f1 d/f2 &&
+		git add f1 d/f2 &&
+		git diff --staged >patch-f1-and-f2.txt &&
+
+		rm -rf d f1 &&
+		git apply patch-f1-and-f2.txt &&
+
+		echo "-rw-------" >f1_mode.expected &&
+		echo "drwx------" >d_mode.expected &&
+		test_modebits f1 >f1_mode.actual &&
+		test_modebits d >d_mode.actual &&
+		test_cmp f1_mode.expected f1_mode.actual &&
+		test_cmp d_mode.expected d_mode.actual
+	)
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 7ba3011b90..0f7f247159 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -367,9 +367,9 @@ test_chmod () {
 	git update-index --add "--chmod=$@"
 }
 
-# Get the modebits from a file.
+# Get the modebits from a file or directory.
 test_modebits () {
-	ls -l "$1" | sed -e 's|^\(..........\).*|\1|'
+	ls -ld "$1" | sed -e 's|^\(..........\).*|\1|'
 }
 
 # Unset a configuration variable, but don't fail if it doesn't exist.