diff --git a/tests/testcurl.pl b/tests/testcurl.pl
index 0d9a1428e..89b47f60c 100755
--- a/tests/testcurl.pl
+++ b/tests/testcurl.pl
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ rmtree "buildlog-*";
 foreach (glob("$CURLDIR/buildlog-*")) { unlink $_; }
 
 # create a dir to build in
-mkdir $build;
+mkdir $build, 0777;
 
 if (-d $build) {
   logit "build dir $build was created fine";