diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 4779e4a..938a45f 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -406,6 +406,9 @@
                       Restart = "on-failure";
                     } // hardeningFlags;
                     preStart = ''
+                      if [ -d /var/lib/pounce ]; then
+                        chmod -R u+x /var/lib/pounce
+                      fi
                       if ${boolToString cfg.generateCerts}; then
                         if [ ! -f ${cfg.certDir}/${name}.${cfg.externalHost}/fullchain.pem ] || \
                            [ ! -f ${cfg.certDir}/${name}.${cfg.externalHost}/privkey.pem ]; then