diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
index 95fc2373766..9e17eec2e93 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
@@ -304,7 +304,9 @@ class InstallPluginCommand extends SettingCommand {
 
                 // be on the safe side: do not rely on that directories are always extracted
                 // before their children (although this makes sense, but is it guaranteed?)
-                Files.createDirectories(targetFile.getParent());
+                if (!Files.isSymbolicLink(targetFile.getParent())) {
+                    Files.createDirectories(targetFile.getParent());
+                }
                 if (entry.isDirectory() == false) {
                     try (OutputStream out = Files.newOutputStream(targetFile)) {
                         int len;
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash
index 19d9f69ece0..32118fda389 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash
@@ -113,6 +113,28 @@ fi
     fi
 }
 
+@test "[$GROUP] install jvm-example plugin with a symlinked plugins path" {
+    # Clean up after the last time this test was run
+    rm -rf /tmp/plugins.*
+    rm -rf /tmp/old_plugins.*
+
+    rm -rf "$ESPLUGINS"
+    local es_plugins=$(mktemp -d -t 'plugins.XXXX')
+    chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch "$es_plugins"
+    ln -s "$es_plugins" "$ESPLUGINS"
+
+    install_jvm_example
+    start_elasticsearch_service
+    # check that symlinked plugin was actually picked up
+    curl -s localhost:9200/_cat/configured_example | sed 's/ *$//' > /tmp/installed
+    echo "foo" > /tmp/expected
+    diff /tmp/installed /tmp/expected
+    stop_elasticsearch_service
+    remove_jvm_example
+
+    unlink "$ESPLUGINS"
+}
+
 @test "[$GROUP] install jvm-example plugin with a custom CONFIG_DIR" {
     # Clean up after the last time we ran this test
     rm -rf /tmp/config.*