diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/unpack_strategy/directory_spec.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/unpack_strategy/directory_spec.rb
index 1207454aec..dc321a4644 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/unpack_strategy/directory_spec.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/unpack_strategy/directory_spec.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ describe UnpackStrategy::Directory do
     mktmpdir.tap do |path|
       FileUtils.touch path/"file"
       FileUtils.ln_s "file", path/"symlink"
+      FileUtils.mkdir path/"folder"
+      FileUtils.ln_s "folder", path/"folderSymlink"
     end
   }
 
@@ -19,6 +21,11 @@ describe UnpackStrategy::Directory do
     expect(unpack_dir/"symlink").to be_a_symlink
   end
 
+  it "does not follow top level symlinks to directories" do
+    strategy.extract(to: unpack_dir)
+    expect(unpack_dir/"folderSymlink").to be_a_symlink
+  end
+
   it "preserves permissions of contained files" do
     FileUtils.chmod 0644, path/"file"
 
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/unpack_strategy/directory.rb b/Library/Homebrew/unpack_strategy/directory.rb
index 66353f279d..d749339835 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/unpack_strategy/directory.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/unpack_strategy/directory.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ module UnpackStrategy
     def extract_to_dir(unpack_dir, basename:, verbose:)
       path.children.each do |child|
         system_command! "cp",
-                        args:    ["-pR", child.directory? ? "#{child}/." : child, unpack_dir/child.basename],
+                        args:    ["-pR", (child.directory? && !child.symlink?) ? "#{child}/." : child,
+                                  unpack_dir/child.basename],
                         verbose: verbose
       end
     end