diff --git a/src/bundle.c b/src/bundle.c
index 5540f9ad..b3cb3156 100644
--- a/src/bundle.c
+++ b/src/bundle.c
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ static void track_installed(const char *bundle_name)
 	 * user installed themselves just copy the entire system tracking directory
 	 * into the state tracking directory. */
 	if (!is_populated_dir(dst)) {
-		ret = mkdir_p(dst);
+		ret = mkdir(dst, S_IRWXU);
 		if (ret) {
 			goto out;
 		}
diff --git a/src/helpers.c b/src/helpers.c
index be339e66..5ecc6a4d 100644
--- a/src/helpers.c
+++ b/src/helpers.c
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ int copy_all(const char *src, const char *dst)
 int mkdir_p(const char *dir)
 {
 	char *cmd;
-	string_or_die(&cmd, "umask 077 ; mkdir -p %s", dir);
+	string_or_die(&cmd, "mkdir -p %s", dir);
 	int ret = system(cmd);
 	free_string(&cmd);
 	return ret;
@@ -204,13 +204,19 @@ static int create_required_dirs(void)
 	const char *state_dirs[] = { "delta", "staged", "download", "telemetry" };
 
 	// check for existence
-	ensure_root_owned_dir(state_dir);
+	if (ensure_root_owned_dir(state_dir)) {
+		//state dir doesn't exist
+		if (mkdir_p(state_dir) != 0 || chmod(state_dir, S_IRWXU) != 0) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "Error: failed to create %s\n", state_dir);
+			return -1;
+		}
+	}
 
 	for (i = 0; i < STATE_DIR_COUNT; i++) {
 		string_or_die(&dir, "%s/%s", state_dir, state_dirs[i]);
 		ret = ensure_root_owned_dir(dir);
 		if (ret) {
-			ret = mkdir_p(dir);
+			ret = mkdir(dir, S_IRWXU);
 			if (ret) {
 				fprintf(stderr, "Error: failed to create %s\n", dir);
 				return -1;