diff --git a/src/uu/install/src/install.rs b/src/uu/install/src/install.rs
index 331a50f67..8f5d381fe 100644
--- a/src/uu/install/src/install.rs
+++ b/src/uu/install/src/install.rs
@@ -13,9 +13,12 @@ use filetime::{set_file_times, FileTime};
 use std::error::Error;
 use std::fmt::{Debug, Display};
 use std::fs;
+#[cfg(not(unix))]
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::os::unix::fs::MetadataExt;
 #[cfg(unix)]
+use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
+#[cfg(unix)]
 use std::os::unix::prelude::OsStrExt;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf, MAIN_SEPARATOR};
 use std::process;
@@ -750,27 +753,52 @@ fn perform_backup(to: &Path, b: &Behavior) -> UResult<Option<PathBuf>> {
 fn copy_file(from: &Path, to: &Path) -> UResult<()> {
     // fs::copy fails if destination is a invalid symlink.
     // so lets just remove all existing files at destination before copy.
-    if let Err(e) = fs::remove_file(to) {
-        if e.kind() != std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound {
-            show_error!(
-                "Failed to remove existing file {}. Error: {:?}",
-                to.display(),
-                e
-            );
+    let remove_destination = || {
+        if let Err(e) = fs::remove_file(to) {
+            if e.kind() != std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound {
+                show_error!(
+                    "Failed to remove existing file {}. Error: {:?}",
+                    to.display(),
+                    e
+                );
+            }
         }
+    };
+    remove_destination();
+
+    // create the destination file first. Using safer mode on unix to avoid
+    // potential unsafe mode between time-of-creation and time-of-chmod.
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    let creation = fs::OpenOptions::new()
+        .write(true)
+        .create_new(true)
+        .mode(0o600)
+        .open(to);
+    #[cfg(not(unix))]
+    let creation = File::create(to);
+
+    if let Err(e) = creation {
+        show_error!(
+            "Failed to create destination file {}. Error: {:?}",
+            to.display(),
+            e
+        );
+        return Err(InstallError::InstallFailed(from.to_path_buf(), to.to_path_buf(), e).into());
     }
 
-    if from.as_os_str() == "/dev/null" {
-        /* workaround a limitation of fs::copy
-         * https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/79390
-         */
-        if let Err(err) = File::create(to) {
+    // drop the file to close the fd of creation
+    drop(creation);
+
+    /* workaround a limitation of fs::copy: skip copy if source is /dev/null
+     * https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/79390
+     */
+    if from.as_os_str() != "/dev/null" {
+        if let Err(err) = fs::copy(from, to) {
+            remove_destination();
             return Err(
                 InstallError::InstallFailed(from.to_path_buf(), to.to_path_buf(), err).into(),
             );
         }
-    } else if let Err(err) = fs::copy(from, to) {
-        return Err(InstallError::InstallFailed(from.to_path_buf(), to.to_path_buf(), err).into());
     }
     Ok(())
 }
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_install.rs b/tests/by-util/test_install.rs
index f1e3302e1..6fa9cc62f 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_install.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_install.rs
@@ -1717,3 +1717,41 @@ fn test_install_root_combined() {
     run_and_check(&["-Cv", "c", "d"], "d", 0, 0);
     run_and_check(&["-Cv", "c", "d"], "d", 0, 0);
 }
+
+#[cfg(all(unix, feature = "chmod"))]
+#[test]
+fn test_install_copy_failures() {
+    let scene = TestScenario::new(util_name!());
+
+    let at = &scene.fixtures;
+
+    let file1 = "source_file";
+    let file2 = "target_file";
+
+    at.touch(file1);
+    scene.ccmd("chmod").arg("000").arg(file1).succeeds();
+
+    // if source file is not readable, it will raise a permission error.
+    // since we create the file with mode 0600 before `fs::copy`, if the
+    // copy failed, the file should be removed.
+    scene
+        .ucmd()
+        .arg(file1)
+        .arg(file2)
+        .arg("--mode=400")
+        .fails()
+        .stderr_contains("permission denied");
+    assert!(!at.file_exists(file2));
+
+    // if source file is good to copy, it should succeed and set the
+    // destination file permissions accordingly
+    scene.ccmd("chmod").arg("644").arg(file1).succeeds();
+    scene
+        .ucmd()
+        .arg(file1)
+        .arg(file2)
+        .arg("--mode=400")
+        .succeeds();
+    assert!(at.file_exists(file2));
+    assert_eq!(0o100_400_u32, at.metadata(file2).permissions().mode());
+}