diff --git a/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_issue_mz863 b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_issue_mz863
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d4b012ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_issue_mz863
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+FROM busybox
+
+# mz863: COPY --chmod must apply the mode to parent directories that the copy
+# creates implicitly, matching buildkit. The single file copy path created every
+# implicit parent with a fixed 0755 while only the file itself got the chmod.
+COPY --chmod=0600 context/foo /dest/foo
+COPY --chmod=0705 context/foo /nested/a/b/foo
+RUN stat -c '%a %n' /dest /nested /nested/a /nested/a/b
diff --git a/pkg/buildcontext/gcs.go b/pkg/buildcontext/gcs.go
index 6e10151dd..23422ffc9 100644
--- a/pkg/buildcontext/gcs.go
+++ b/pkg/buildcontext/gcs.go
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ func getTarFromBucket(bucketName, filepathInBucket, directory string) (string, e
 	}
 	defer reader.Close()
 	tarPath := filepath.Join(directory, constants.ContextTar)
-	if err := util.CreateFile(tarPath, reader, 0o600, 0, 0); err != nil {
+	if err := util.CreateFile(tarPath, reader, 0o600, 0o755, 0, 0); err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
 	logrus.Debugf("Copied tarball %s from GCS bucket %s to %s", constants.ContextTar, bucketName, tarPath)
diff --git a/pkg/commands/copy.go b/pkg/commands/copy.go
index 6f871e49f..0df5b7745 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/copy.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/copy.go
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func (c *CopyCommand) ExecuteCommand(config *v1.Config, buildArgs *dockerfile.Bu
 		}
 
 		srcFile := strings.NewReader(src.Data)
-		err = util.CreateFile(destPath, srcFile, chmod.Apply(0o644), uint32(uid), uint32(gid))
+		err = util.CreateFile(destPath, srcFile, chmod.Apply(0o644), chmod.Apply(0o755), uint32(uid), uint32(gid))
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("creating file: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/util/fs_util.go b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
index 24a5d0446..e83d6b904 100644
--- a/pkg/util/fs_util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
@@ -684,9 +684,9 @@ func resetFileOwnershipIfNotMatching(path string, newUID, newGID uint32) error {
 }
 
 // CreateFile creates a file at path and copies over contents from the reader
-func CreateFile(path string, reader io.Reader, perm os.FileMode, uid uint32, gid uint32) error {
+func CreateFile(path string, reader io.Reader, perm os.FileMode, dirPerm os.FileMode, uid uint32, gid uint32) error {
 	// Create directory path if it doesn't exist
-	if err := createParentDirectory(path, int(uid), int(gid)); err != nil {
+	if err := createParentDirectory(path, int(uid), int(gid), dirPerm); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("creating parent dir: %w", err)
 	}
 
@@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ func DownloadFileToDest(rawurl, dest string, uid, gid int64, chmod fs.FileMode)
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid response status %d", resp.StatusCode)
 	}
 
-	if err := CreateFile(dest, resp.Body, chmod, uint32(uid), uint32(gid)); err != nil {
+	if err := CreateFile(dest, resp.Body, chmod, 0o755, uint32(uid), uint32(gid)); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	mTime := time.Time{}
@@ -960,7 +960,7 @@ func CopyFile(src, dest string, context FileContext, uid, gid int64, chmod mode.
 		perm = chmod.Apply(fi.Mode())
 	}
 
-	err = CreateFile(dest, srcFile, perm, uint32(uid), uint32(gid))
+	err = CreateFile(dest, srcFile, perm, chmod.Apply(0o755), uint32(uid), uint32(gid))
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
@@ -988,7 +988,7 @@ func CopyFileInternal(src, dest string, context FileContext) error {
 	gid := fi.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t).Gid
 	mode := fi.Mode()
 
-	err = CreateFile(dest, srcFile, mode, uid, gid)
+	err = CreateFile(dest, srcFile, mode, 0o755, uid, gid)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -1309,7 +1309,11 @@ func CopyTimestamps(src string, dest string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func createParentDirectory(path string, uid int, gid int) error {
+func createParentDirectory(path string, uid int, gid int, dirPerm ...os.FileMode) error {
+	perm := os.FileMode(0o755)
+	if len(dirPerm) > 0 && config.EnvBool("FF_KANIKO_COPY_CHMOD_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS") {
+		perm = dirPerm[0]
+	}
 	baseDir := filepath.Dir(path)
 	if info, err := os.Lstat(baseDir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
 		logrus.Tracef("BaseDir %s for file %s does not exist. Creating.", baseDir, path)
@@ -1325,7 +1329,7 @@ func createParentDirectory(path string, uid int, gid int) error {
 			dir := dirs[i]
 
 			if _, err := os.Lstat(dir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
-				err = os.Mkdir(dir, 0o755)
+				err = os.Mkdir(dir, perm)
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}