diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b9c0725c..ac128067 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   to be changed accordingly
 - host overlays can globaly disbaled, but are enabled per default
 - `wwctl overlay build -H` will only build the overlays which are assigned to the nodes
+### Fixes
+- GID is no longer changed to `0` when unspecified during chown
 
 
 ## [4.1.0] - 2021-07-29
diff --git a/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/chown/main.go b/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/chown/main.go
index 11a832dd..e0bd5e97 100644
--- a/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/chown/main.go
+++ b/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/chown/main.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func CobraRunE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 			os.Exit(1)
 		}
 	} else {
-		gid = 0
+		gid = -1
 	}
 
 	overlaySourceDir = overlay.OverlaySourceDir(overlayName)