diff --git a/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsDiff.java b/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsDiff.java
index efa3a5102..5de90b566 100644
--- a/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsDiff.java
+++ b/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsDiff.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2016-2023 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
+ * Copyright 2016-2024 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
  * and other contributors as indicated by the @author tags.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -359,6 +359,11 @@ private void doDiff(FsEntry originalEntry, FsEntry otherEntry) throws Provisioni
             added = CollectionUtils.put(added, otherEntry.getRelativePath(), otherEntry);
             return;
         }
+        // if the file is available in both the original and other filesystems, but has been
+        // made un-readable, it means this file can no longer be managed by Galleon, therefore it is an error.
+        if (!Files.isReadable(otherEntry.p)) {
+            throw new ProvisioningException(BaseErrors.readDirectory(otherEntry.p));
+        }
         if(originalEntry.dir) {
             if (originalEntry.hasChildren()) {
                 final Map<String, FsEntry> otherChildren = otherEntry.cloneChildren();
diff --git a/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsEntryFactory.java b/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsEntryFactory.java
index 960beef16..bce3c3ced 100644
--- a/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsEntryFactory.java
+++ b/common-api/src/main/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/FsEntryFactory.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2016-2023 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
+ * Copyright 2016-2024 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
  * and other contributors as indicated by the @author tags.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ private void initChildren(final FsEntry parent) throws IOException {
         }
         if(hasDirs) {
             for(FsEntry child : parent.getChildren()) {
-                if(!child.dir) {
+                if(!child.dir || !Files.isReadable(child.p)) {
                     continue;
                 }
                 initChildren(child);
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/FsDiffTestBase.java b/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/FsDiffTestBase.java
index 696e71614..a422a8863 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/FsDiffTestBase.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/FsDiffTestBase.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2016-2019 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
+ * Copyright 2016-2024 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
  * and other contributors as indicated by the @author tags.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public void cleanup() throws Exception {
         IoUtils.recursiveDelete(root);
     }
 
-    protected void createFile(String relativePath, String content) throws IOException {
+    protected Path createFile(String relativePath, String content) throws IOException {
         if(relativePath.charAt(0) == '/') {
             relativePath = relativePath.substring(1);
         }
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ protected void createFile(String relativePath, String content) throws IOExceptio
         try(BufferedWriter writer = Files.newBufferedWriter(target)) {
             writer.write(content);
         }
+        return target;
     }
 
     protected void mkdir(String relativePath) throws IOException {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/NonReadableFolderFsTestCase.java b/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/NonReadableFolderFsTestCase.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..46a189a6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/jboss/galleon/diff/fs/test/NonReadableFolderFsTestCase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016-2024 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
+ * and other contributors as indicated by the @author tags.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.jboss.galleon.diff.fs.test;
+
+import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions;
+import org.jboss.galleon.BaseErrors;
+import org.jboss.galleon.ProvisioningException;
+import org.jboss.galleon.diff.FsDiff;
+import org.jboss.galleon.diff.FsEntryFactory;
+import org.jboss.galleon.util.IoUtils;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Assume;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.BufferedWriter;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+public class NonReadableFolderFsTestCase {
+
+    private Path testFile;
+    private Path root;
+    private Path original;
+    private Path other;
+
+    @Before
+    public void init() throws Exception {
+        root = IoUtils.createRandomTmpDir();
+        Files.createDirectories(original = root.resolve("original"));
+        Files.createDirectories(other = root.resolve("other"));
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        testFile.toFile().setReadable(true);
+        IoUtils.recursiveDelete(root);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNewUnreadableFolderIsIgnored() throws Exception {
+        testFile = createFile(other, "a/d.txt", "d");
+        Assume.assumeTrue("Skipping test as the filesystem doesn't allow to set non-readble folders",
+                testFile.toFile().setReadable(false));
+
+        final FsEntryFactory factory = FsEntryFactory.getInstance();
+        final FsDiff diff = FsDiff.diff(factory.forPath(original), factory.forPath(other));
+        Assertions.assertThat(diff.getAddedPaths())
+                .containsOnly("a/");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void existingUnreadableFolderIsIgnored() throws Exception {
+        createFile(original, "a/d.txt", "d");
+
+        testFile = createFile(other, "a/d.txt", "d");
+        Assume.assumeTrue("Skipping test as the filesystem doesn't allow to set non-readble folders",
+                testFile.toFile().setReadable(false));
+
+        final FsEntryFactory factory = FsEntryFactory.getInstance();
+        Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(()->FsDiff.diff(factory.forPath(original), factory.forPath(other)))
+                .isInstanceOf(ProvisioningException.class)
+                .hasMessageContaining(BaseErrors.readDirectory(testFile));
+    }
+
+    protected Path createFile(Path context, String relativePath, String content) throws IOException {
+        if(relativePath.charAt(0) == '/') {
+            relativePath = relativePath.substring(1);
+        }
+        final Path target = context.resolve(relativePath);
+        Files.createDirectories(target.getParent());
+        try(BufferedWriter writer = Files.newBufferedWriter(target)) {
+            writer.write(content);
+        }
+        return target;
+    }
+}