diff --git a/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_replaced_hardlinks b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_replaced_hardlinks
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..78ca22b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_replaced_hardlinks
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+FROM jboss/base-jdk@sha256:70d956f632c26d1f1df57cbb99870a6141cfe470de0eb2d51bccd44929df9367
diff --git a/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_replaced_symlinks b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_replaced_symlinks
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70e3d1f2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_replaced_symlinks
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+FROM tenstartups/alpine@sha256:31dc8b12e0f73a1de899146c3663644b7668f8fd198cfe9b266886c9abfa944b
+RUN pwd
diff --git a/pkg/util/fs_util.go b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
index 3e45c69c1..b7c2baddf 100644
--- a/pkg/util/fs_util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
@@ -186,6 +186,13 @@ func extractFile(dest string, hdr *tar.Header, tr io.Reader) error {
 				return err
 			}
 		}
+		// Check if something already exists at path (symlinks etc.)
+		// If so, delete it
+		if FilepathExists(path) {
+			if err := os.Remove(path); err != nil {
+				return errors.Wrapf(err, "error removing %s to make way for new file.", path)
+			}
+		}
 		currFile, err := os.Create(path)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -220,6 +227,14 @@ func extractFile(dest string, hdr *tar.Header, tr io.Reader) error {
 		if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0755); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		// Check if something already exists at path
+		// If so, delete it
+		if FilepathExists(path) {
+			if err := os.Remove(path); err != nil {
+				return errors.Wrapf(err, "error removing %s to make way for new link", hdr.Name)
+			}
+		}
+
 		if err := os.Link(filepath.Clean(filepath.Join("/", hdr.Linkname)), path); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}