diff --git a/Kernel/FileSystem/VirtualFileSystem.cpp b/Kernel/FileSystem/VirtualFileSystem.cpp
index 5a36839244..d91f558878 100644
--- a/Kernel/FileSystem/VirtualFileSystem.cpp
+++ b/Kernel/FileSystem/VirtualFileSystem.cpp
@@ -205,6 +205,9 @@ KResultOr<NonnullRefPtr<FileDescription>> VFS::open(StringView path, int options
     auto& inode = custody.inode();
     auto metadata = inode.metadata();
 
+    if ((options & O_DIRECTORY) && !metadata.is_directory())
+        return KResult(-ENOTDIR);
+
     bool should_truncate_file = false;
 
     // NOTE: Read permission is a bit weird, since O_RDONLY == 0,
diff --git a/Kernel/Process.cpp b/Kernel/Process.cpp
index cd7f62c0d4..e66f93ea1b 100644
--- a/Kernel/Process.cpp
+++ b/Kernel/Process.cpp
@@ -1589,8 +1589,6 @@ int Process::sys$open(const Syscall::SC_open_params* params)
     if (result.is_error())
         return result.error();
     auto description = result.value();
-    if (options & O_DIRECTORY && !description->is_directory())
-        return -ENOTDIR; // FIXME: This should be handled by VFS::open.
     description->set_file_flags(options);
     u32 fd_flags = (options & O_CLOEXEC) ? FD_CLOEXEC : 0;
     m_fds[fd].set(move(description), fd_flags);
@@ -1629,8 +1627,6 @@ int Process::sys$openat(const Syscall::SC_openat_params* params)
     if (result.is_error())
         return result.error();
     auto description = result.value();
-    if (options & O_DIRECTORY && !description->is_directory())
-        return -ENOTDIR; // FIXME: This should be handled by VFS::open.
     description->set_file_flags(options);
     u32 fd_flags = (options & O_CLOEXEC) ? FD_CLOEXEC : 0;
     m_fds[fd].set(move(description), fd_flags);