diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cleaner.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cleaner.rb
index 5b2e3a4965..76c6ceb899 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cleaner.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cleaner.rb
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Cleaner
       0444
     end
     if ARGV.debug?
-      old_perms = path.stat.mode
+      old_perms = path.stat.mode & 0777
       if perms != old_perms
         puts "Fixing #{path} permissions from #{old_perms.to_s(8)} to #{perms.to_s(8)}"
       end