diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh b/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh
index 81534b3077..bad1961ae0 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh
@@ -65,7 +65,12 @@ else
   CACHE_HOME="${HOMEBREW_XDG_CACHE_HOME:-${HOME}/.cache}"
   HOMEBREW_DEFAULT_CACHE="${CACHE_HOME}/Homebrew"
   HOMEBREW_DEFAULT_LOGS="${CACHE_HOME}/Homebrew/Logs"
-  HOMEBREW_DEFAULT_TEMP="/var/tmp"
+  if [[ -r "/var/tmp" && -w "/var/tmp" ]]
+  then
+    HOMEBREW_DEFAULT_TEMP="/var/tmp"
+  else
+    HOMEBREW_DEFAULT_TEMP="/tmp"
+  fi
 fi
 
 realpath() {