diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/realpath.c b/lib/libc/stdlib/realpath.c
--- a/lib/libc/stdlib/realpath.c
+++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/realpath.c
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 {
 	struct stat sb;
 	char *p, *q;
-	size_t left_len, resolved_len, next_token_len;
+	size_t left_len, prev_len, resolved_len, next_token_len;
 	unsigned symlinks;
 	ssize_t slen;
 	char left[PATH_MAX], next_token[PATH_MAX], symlink[PATH_MAX];
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
 			left_len = 0;
 		}
 
+		prev_len = resolved_len;
 		if (resolved[resolved_len - 1] != '/') {
 			if (resolved_len + 1 >= PATH_MAX) {
 				errno = ENAMETOOLONG;
@@ -133,8 +134,17 @@
 			errno = ENAMETOOLONG;
 			return (NULL);
 		}
-		if (lstat(resolved, &sb) != 0)
+		if (lstat(resolved, &sb) != 0) {
+			/*
+			 * EACCES means the parent directory is not
+			 * readable, while ENOTDIR means the parent
+			 * directory is not a directory.  Rewind the path
+			 * to correctly indicate where the error lies.
+			 */
+			if (errno == EACCES || errno == ENOTDIR)
+				resolved[prev_len] = '\0';
 			return (NULL);
+		}
 		if (S_ISLNK(sb.st_mode)) {
 			if (symlinks++ > MAXSYMLINKS) {
 				errno = ELOOP;
diff --git a/lib/libc/tests/gen/realpath2_test.c b/lib/libc/tests/gen/realpath2_test.c
--- a/lib/libc/tests/gen/realpath2_test.c
+++ b/lib/libc/tests/gen/realpath2_test.c
@@ -158,15 +158,8 @@
 	ATF_REQUIRE_EQ(0, chmod("foo", 000));
 	ATF_REQUIRE_ERRNO(EACCES, realpath("foo/bar/baz", resb) == NULL);
 	len = strnlen(resb, sizeof(resb));
-	ATF_REQUIRE(len > 8 && len < sizeof(resb));
-	/*
-	 * This is arguably wrong.  The problem is not with bar, but with
-	 * foo.  However, since foo exists and is a directory and the only
-	 * reliable way to detect whether a directory is readable is to
-	 * attempt to read it, we do not detect the problem until we try
-	 * to access bar.
-	 */
-	ATF_REQUIRE_STREQ("/foo/bar", resb + len - 8);
+	ATF_REQUIRE(len > 4 && len < sizeof(resb));
+	ATF_REQUIRE_STREQ("/foo", resb + len - 4);
 
 	/* scenario 6: not a directory */
 	ATF_REQUIRE_EQ(0, close(creat("bar", 0644)));