diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c15439f0f..cc06f58e4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ expect - see [Known Issues](#known-issues).
       - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_OCI_WARMER`](#flag-ff_kaniko_oci_warmer)
       - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_RUN_VIA_TINI`](#flag-ff_kaniko_run_via_tini)
       - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_COPY_CHMOD_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS`](#flag-ff_kaniko_copy_chmod_on_implicit_dirs)
+      - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_CHOWN_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS`](#flag-ff_kaniko_chown_on_implicit_dirs)
       - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_CLEAN_KANIKO_DIR`](#flag-ff_kaniko_clean_kaniko_dir)
       - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_NO_PROPAGATE_ANNOTATIONS`](#flag-ff_kaniko_no_propagate_annotations)
       - [Flag `FF_KANIKO_OCI_SCRATCH_BASE`](#flag-ff_kaniko_oci_scratch_base)
@@ -1176,6 +1177,12 @@ When files are copied into a non-existing directory, both kaniko and buildkit wi
 Set this flag to `true` to implement COPY chmod like buildkit. Defaults to `false`.
 Currently no plans to activate.
 
+#### Flag `FF_KANIKO_CHOWN_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS`
+
+When `WORKDIR` creates a directory whose parents do not exist yet, kaniko creates the parents but leaves them owned by root, assigning the active `USER` only to the final directory. buildkit assigns the active `USER` to every directory it creates, so `WORKDIR /work/dir` under `USER 1000` leaves `/work` owned by root in kaniko but by `1000` in buildkit.
+Set this flag to `true` to chown every implicitly created directory to the active user, matching buildkit. Defaults to `false`.
+Currently no plans to activate.
+
 #### Flag `FF_KANIKO_CLEAN_KANIKO_DIR`
 
 When using `--cleanup`, kaniko cleans the container filesystem at the end of the build. Set this flag to `true` to also remove kaniko's own working directory artifacts from `/kaniko` (the Dockerfile copy, build context, intermediate stages, inter-stage dependencies, layers cache, and secrets). This is useful when reusing a kaniko container across multiple builds.
diff --git a/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_issue_mz864 b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_issue_mz864
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..496c242b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_issue_mz864
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+FROM alpine
+
+# mz864: WORKDIR chowns only the leaf directory it creates.
+# Diverges from buildkit on kaniko v1.28.0: the implicit parent /work stays
+# root owned while buildkit assigns the active USER to every dir it creates.
+USER 1000
+WORKDIR /work/dir4
+RUN stat -c '%u %g %n' /work /work/dir4
diff --git a/integration/images.go b/integration/images.go
index d562468ee..6f4d29f46 100644
--- a/integration/images.go
+++ b/integration/images.go
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ var KanikoEnv = []string{
 	"FF_KANIKO_COPY_AS_ROOT=1",
 	"FF_KANIKO_RUN_VIA_TINI=1",
 	"FF_KANIKO_COPY_CHMOD_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS=1",
+	"FF_KANIKO_CHOWN_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS=1",
 	"FF_KANIKO_OCI_SCRATCH_BASE=1",
 	"FF_KANIKO_INFER_CROSS_STAGE_CACHE_KEY=1",
 	"FF_KANIKO_CACHE_LOOKAHEAD=1",
diff --git a/pkg/util/fs_util.go b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
index 24a5d0446..c1147f4ff 100644
--- a/pkg/util/fs_util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
@@ -1088,6 +1088,18 @@ func MkdirAllWithPermissions(path string, mode os.FileMode, uid, gid int64) erro
 		return fmt.Errorf("error calling stat on %s: %w", path, err)
 	}
 
+	var parents []string
+	if config.EnvBool("FF_KANIKO_CHOWN_ON_IMPLICIT_DIRS") {
+		for dir := filepath.Dir(path); dir != "/" && dir != "." && dir != ""; dir = filepath.Dir(dir) {
+			_, serr := os.Lstat(dir)
+			if os.IsNotExist(serr) {
+				parents = append(parents, dir)
+			} else {
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	// mkdir respects the process' umask
 	// so we can't copy the correct permissions from source
 	// if umask is set to anything other than 0
@@ -1107,6 +1119,12 @@ func MkdirAllWithPermissions(path string, mode os.FileMode, uid, gid int64) erro
 	if err := os.Chown(path, int(uid), int(gid)); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	for _, dir := range parents {
+		err = os.Chown(dir, int(uid), int(gid))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
 	return nil
 }