diff --git a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
--- a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
+++ b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
@@ -515,12 +515,12 @@
 
 	/* get standard attributes */
 	num = tarfs_str2int64(hdrp->mode, sizeof(hdrp->mode));
-	if (num < 0 || num > ALLPERMS) {
+	if (num < 0 || num > (S_IFMT|ALLPERMS)) {
 		TARFS_DPF(ALLOC, "%s: invalid file mode at %zu\n",
 		    __func__, TARFS_BLOCKSIZE * (blknum - 1));
 		mode = S_IRUSR;
 	} else {
-		mode = num;
+		mode = num & ALLPERMS;
 	}
 	num = tarfs_str2int64(hdrp->uid, sizeof(hdrp->uid));
 	if (num < 0 || num > UID_MAX) {
diff --git a/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh b/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
--- a/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
+++ b/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" "$(stat -L -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/short_link)"
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" "$(stat -L -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/long_link)"
 	atf_check_equal "$(sha256 -q "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" ${sum}
+	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%p "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" 100644
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%l "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" 2
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%l "${mnt}"/hard_link)" 2
 }