diff --git a/nixos/modules/security/setuid-swap.c b/nixos/modules/security/setuid-swap.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e184096b6f3f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/security/setuid-swap.c
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/* Try to atomically swap two files with renameat2/RENAME_EXCHANGE,
+ * falling back to swapping through a third temporary path.
+ *
+ * We use this for atomically (or almost atomically) updating the
+ * setuid-wrapper dir, rather than using the always-atomic symlink
+ * updating pattern, to avoid any potential issues with setuid
+ * binaries and symlinks.
+ */
+
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <sys/syscall.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+static void move(const char * old, const char * new) {
+  if (rename(old, new) == -1) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "moving %s to %s: %s\n", old, new, strerror(errno));
+    exit(1);
+  }
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
+  if (argc != 4) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "USAGE: %s OLD NEW TMP\n", argv[0]);
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+  if (syscall(SYS_renameat2, AT_FDCWD, argv[1], AT_FDCWD, argv[2], RENAME_EXCHANGE) == -1) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "directly swapping %s and %s failed: %s\nfalling back to swapping through %s\n",
+	    argv[1], argv[2], strerror(errno), argv[3]);
+
+    move(argv[1], argv[3]);
+    move(argv[2], argv[1]);
+    move(argv[3], argv[2]);
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/nixos/modules/security/setuid-wrappers.nix b/nixos/modules/security/setuid-wrappers.nix
index 99dd514feea3f..834e6ccf59dcd 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/security/setuid-wrappers.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/security/setuid-wrappers.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ let
     '';
   };
 
+  setuid-swap = pkgs.runCommand "setuid-swap" {} ''
+    mkdir -p $out/bin
+    gcc -Wall -O2 ${./setuid-swap.c} -o $out/bin/setuid-swap
+    fixupPhase
+  '';
+
 in
 
 {
@@ -102,11 +108,11 @@ in
                 source=/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin/${program}
             fi
 
-            cp ${setuidWrapper}/bin/setuid-wrapper ${wrapperDir}/${program}
-            echo -n "$source" > ${wrapperDir}/${program}.real
-            chmod 0000 ${wrapperDir}/${program} # to prevent races
-            chown ${owner}.${group} ${wrapperDir}/${program}
-            chmod "u${if setuid then "+" else "-"}s,g${if setgid then "+" else "-"}s,${permissions}" ${wrapperDir}/${program}
+            cp ${setuidWrapper}/bin/setuid-wrapper ${wrapperDir}-new/${program}
+            echo -n "$source" > ${wrapperDir}-new/${program}.real
+            chmod 0000 ${wrapperDir}-new/${program} # to prevent races
+            chown ${owner}.${group} ${wrapperDir}-new/${program}
+            chmod "u${if setuid then "+" else "-"}s,g${if setgid then "+" else "-"}s,${permissions}" ${wrapperDir}-new/${program}
           '';
 
       in stringAfter [ "users" ]
@@ -115,9 +121,11 @@ in
           # programs to be wrapped.
           SETUID_PATH=${config.system.path}/bin:${config.system.path}/sbin
 
-          rm -f ${wrapperDir}/* # */
-
+          mkdir -p ${wrapperDir}-new
           ${concatMapStrings makeSetuidWrapper setuidPrograms}
+
+          ${setuid-swap}/bin/setuid-swap ${wrapperDir}-new ${wrapperDir} ${wrapperDir}-tmp
+          rm -fR ${wrapperDir}-new
         '';
 
   };