diff --git a/src/shared/creds-util.c b/src/shared/creds-util.c
index ecf90e2084..f5ac15be44 100644
--- a/src/shared/creds-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/creds-util.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "sd-id128.h"
 
 #include "blockdev-util.h"
+#include "capability-util.h"
 #include "chattr-util.h"
 #include "creds-util.h"
 #include "def.h"
@@ -173,10 +174,15 @@ static int make_credential_host_secret(
         assert(dfd >= 0);
         assert(fn);
 
-        fd = openat(dfd, ".", O_CLOEXEC|O_WRONLY|O_TMPFILE, 0400);
+        /* For non-root users creating a temporary file using the openat(2) over "." will fail later, in the
+         * linkat(2) step at the end.  The reason is that linkat(2) requires the CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH
+         * capability when it uses the AT_EMPTY_PATH flag. */
+        if (have_effective_cap(CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH) > 0) {
+                fd = openat(dfd, ".", O_CLOEXEC|O_WRONLY|O_TMPFILE, 0400);
+                if (fd < 0)
+                        log_debug_errno(errno, "Failed to create temporary credential file with O_TMPFILE, proceeding without: %m");
+        }
         if (fd < 0) {
-                log_debug_errno(errno, "Failed to create temporary credential file with O_TMPFILE, proceeding without: %m");
-
                 if (asprintf(&t, "credential.secret.%016" PRIx64, random_u64()) < 0)
                         return -ENOMEM;