--- libbb/copy_file.c
+++ libbb/copy_file.c
@@ -276,7 +276,12 @@
			new_mode = 0666;

		// POSIX way is a security problem versus (sym)link attacks
-		if (!ENABLE_FEATURE_NON_POSIX_CP) {
+		if (!ENABLE_FEATURE_NON_POSIX_CP
+			|| (dest_exists
+				&& !(flags & (FILEUTILS_RECUR|FILEUTILS_INTERACTIVE))
+				&& !S_ISLNK(dest_stat.st_mode)
+			)
+		) {
			dst_fd = open(dest, O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, new_mode);
		} else { /* safe way: */
			dst_fd = open(dest, O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL, new_mode);