diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_pods.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_pods.go
index 555d2014a45..aeb05e56cb4 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_pods.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_pods.go
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ func makeMounts(pod *v1.Pod, podDir string, container *v1.Container, hostName, h
 
 			hostPath = filepath.Join(hostPath, mount.SubPath)
 
-			if subPathExists, err := util.FileExists(hostPath); err != nil {
+			if subPathExists, err := util.FileOrSymlinkExists(hostPath); err != nil {
 				glog.Errorf("Could not determine if subPath %s exists; will not attempt to change its permissions", hostPath)
 			} else if !subPathExists {
 				// Create the sub path now because if it's auto-created later when referenced, it may have an
diff --git a/pkg/util/util.go b/pkg/util/util.go
index 356b295a3e1..389e145e849 100644
--- a/pkg/util/util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/util.go
@@ -84,6 +84,15 @@ func FileExists(filename string) (bool, error) {
 	return true, nil
 }
 
+func FileOrSymlinkExists(filename string) (bool, error) {
+	if _, err := os.Lstat(filename); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return false, nil
+	} else if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return true, nil
+}
+
 // ReadDirNoStat returns a string of files/directories contained
 // in dirname without calling lstat on them.
 func ReadDirNoStat(dirname string) ([]string, error) {