diff --git a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/apache_util.py b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/apache_util.py
index fde812478..c0e57c3f5 100644
--- a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/apache_util.py
+++ b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/apache_util.py
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ from certbot import util
 
 from certbot.compat import os
 
+# TEMPORARY WORKAROUND
+import os as stdlib_os
+
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -76,9 +79,19 @@ def safe_copy(source, target):
         copied or the target file hash does not match
         with the source file.
     """
+    orig_perms = None
+    try:
+        orig_perms = stdlib_os.stat(target)
+    except OSError:
+        # target file was not found
+        pass
+
     for _ in range(3):
         try:
             shutil.copy2(source, target)
+            if orig_perms:
+                stdlib_os.chown(target, orig_perms.st_uid)
+                stdlib_os.chmod(target, oct(orig_perms.st_mode & 0o777))
         except IOError as e:
             emsg = "Could not copy {} to {}: {}".format(
                 source, target, e