diff --git a/php/tasks/php_jessie.yml b/php/tasks/php_jessie.yml
index 5d1d6965..de5d94f4 100644
--- a/php/tasks/php_jessie.yml
+++ b/php/tasks/php_jessie.yml
@@ -46,14 +46,20 @@
     option: disable_functions
     value: "exec,shell-exec,system,passthru,putenv,popen"
 
-- name: Custom php.ini for CLI
+- name: Custom php.ini for CLI (jessie)
   copy:
     dest: "{{ phpini_cli_custom_file }}"
-    mode: "0644"
     content: |
       ; Put customized values here.
     force: no
 
+# This task is not merged with the above copy
+# because "force: no" prevents any fix after the fact
+- name: "Permissions for custom php.ini for CLI (jessie)"
+  file:
+    dest: "{{ phpini_cli_custom_file }}"
+    mode: "0644"
+
 - name: "Set custom values for PHP to enable Symfony (jessie)"
   ini_file:
     dest: "{{ phpini_cli_custom_file }}"
diff --git a/php/tasks/php_stretch.yml b/php/tasks/php_stretch.yml
index f20dbafb..c39a63c2 100644
--- a/php/tasks/php_stretch.yml
+++ b/php/tasks/php_stretch.yml
@@ -50,12 +50,18 @@
 - name: "Custom php.ini for CLI (Debian 9 or later)"
   copy:
     dest: "{{ phpini_cli_custom_file }}"
-    mode: "0644"
     content: |
       ; Put customized values here.
       ; default_charset = "ISO-8859-1"
     force: no
 
+# This task is not merged with the above copy
+# because "force: no" prevents any fix after the fact
+- name: "Permissions for custom php.ini for CLI (Debian 9 or later)"
+  file:
+    dest: "{{ phpini_cli_custom_file }}"
+    mode: "0644"
+
 - name: "Set custom values for PHP to enable Symfony (Debian 9 or later)"
   ini_file:
     dest: "{{ phpini_cli_custom_file }}"