diff --git a/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/build/main.go b/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/build/main.go
index c44b30ef..3f155350 100644
--- a/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/build/main.go
+++ b/internal/app/wwctl/overlay/build/main.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
+	"syscall"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	warewulfconf "github.com/warewulf/warewulf/internal/pkg/config"
@@ -83,6 +84,9 @@ func CobraRunE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	}
 
 	if BuildNodes || (!BuildHost && !BuildNodes) {
+		oldMask := syscall.Umask(007)
+		defer syscall.Umask(oldMask)
+
 		if len(OverlayNames) > 0 {
 			err = overlay.BuildSpecificOverlays(nodes, OverlayNames)
 		} else {
diff --git a/internal/pkg/util/util.go b/internal/pkg/util/util.go
index 830f5a8a..60266d93 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/util/util.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/util/util.go
@@ -543,9 +543,6 @@ func CpioCreate(
 
 	args = append(args, cpio_args...)
 
-	oldMask := syscall.Umask(007)
-	defer syscall.Umask(oldMask)
-
 	proc := exec.Command("cpio", args...)
 
 	stdin, err := proc.StdinPipe()