diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIteratorTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIteratorTest.java
index 22eeb8e3d..67fae270e 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIteratorTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIteratorTest.java
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.security.MessageDigest;
 
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.Git;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCacheCheckout;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCacheEntry;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.FileMode;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
@@ -175,6 +178,24 @@ public void testComputeFileObjectId() throws Exception {
 		assertEquals(expect, top.getEntryObjectId());
 	}
 
+	public void testIsModifiedSymlink() throws Exception {
+		File f = writeTrashFile("symlink", "content");
+		Git git = new Git(db);
+		git.add().addFilepattern("symlink").call();
+		git.commit().setMessage("commit").call();
+
+		// Modify previously committed DirCacheEntry and write it back to disk
+		DirCacheEntry dce = db.readDirCache().getEntry("symlink");
+		dce.setFileMode(FileMode.SYMLINK);
+		DirCacheCheckout.checkoutEntry(db, f, dce);
+
+		FileTreeIterator fti = new FileTreeIterator(trash, db.getFS(), db
+				.getConfig().get(WorkingTreeOptions.KEY));
+		while (!fti.getEntryPathString().equals("symlink"))
+			fti.next(1);
+		assertFalse(fti.isModified(dce, false));
+	}
+
 	private static String nameOf(final AbstractTreeIterator i) {
 		return RawParseUtils.decode(Constants.CHARSET, i.path, 0, i.pathLen);
 	}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
index 6365c119c..69d9b22d1 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
@@ -556,15 +556,19 @@ public boolean isModified(DirCacheEntry entry, boolean forceContentCheck) {
 		// bitwise presentation of modeDiff we'll have a '1' when the two modes
 		// differ at this position.
 		int modeDiff = getEntryRawMode() ^ entry.getRawMode();
-		// Ignore the executable file bits if checkFilemode tells me to do so.
-		// Ignoring is done by setting the bits representing a EXECUTABLE_FILE
-		// to '0' in modeDiff
-		if (!state.options.isFileMode())
-			modeDiff &= ~FileMode.EXECUTABLE_FILE.getBits();
-		if (modeDiff != 0)
-			// Report a modification if the modes still (after potentially
-			// ignoring EXECUTABLE_FILE bits) differ
-			return true;
+
+		// Do not rely on filemode differences in case of symbolic links
+		if (modeDiff != 0 && !FileMode.SYMLINK.equals(entry.getRawMode())) {
+			// Ignore the executable file bits if WorkingTreeOptions tell me to
+			// do so. Ignoring is done by setting the bits representing a
+			// EXECUTABLE_FILE to '0' in modeDiff
+			if (!state.options.isFileMode())
+				modeDiff &= ~FileMode.EXECUTABLE_FILE.getBits();
+			if (modeDiff != 0)
+				// Report a modification if the modes still (after potentially
+				// ignoring EXECUTABLE_FILE bits) differ
+				return true;
+		}
 
 		// Git under windows only stores seconds so we round the timestamp
 		// Java gives us if it looks like the timestamp in index is seconds