diff --git a/src/core/execute.c b/src/core/execute.c
index 5a2c095e85..cefe9b11c2 100644
--- a/src/core/execute.c
+++ b/src/core/execute.c
@@ -1843,7 +1843,6 @@ static int setup_exec_directory(
                 const ExecParameters *params,
                 uid_t uid,
                 gid_t gid,
-                bool manager_is_system,
                 ExecDirectoryType type,
                 int *exit_status) {
 
@@ -1865,7 +1864,7 @@ static int setup_exec_directory(
         if (!params->prefix[type])
                 return 0;
 
-        if (manager_is_system) {
+        if (params->flags & EXEC_CHOWN_DIRECTORIES) {
                 if (!uid_is_valid(uid))
                         uid = 0;
                 if (!gid_is_valid(gid))
@@ -2601,7 +2600,7 @@ static int exec_child(
         }
 
         for (dt = 0; dt < _EXEC_DIRECTORY_MAX; dt++) {
-                r = setup_exec_directory(context, params, uid, gid, MANAGER_IS_SYSTEM(unit->manager), dt, exit_status);
+                r = setup_exec_directory(context, params, uid, gid, dt, exit_status);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return r;
         }
diff --git a/src/core/execute.h b/src/core/execute.h
index 8b2b80d34e..1560aff7fd 100644
--- a/src/core/execute.h
+++ b/src/core/execute.h
@@ -260,12 +260,13 @@ typedef enum ExecFlags {
         EXEC_APPLY_TTY_STDIN   = 1U << 2,
         EXEC_NEW_KEYRING       = 1U << 3,
         EXEC_PASS_LOG_UNIT     = 1U << 4, /* Whether to pass the unit name to the service's journal stream connection */
+        EXEC_CHOWN_DIRECTORIES = 1U << 5, /* chown() the runtime/state/cache/log directories to the user we run as, under all conditions */
 
         /* The following are not used by execute.c, but by consumers internally */
-        EXEC_PASS_FDS          = 1U << 5,
-        EXEC_IS_CONTROL        = 1U << 6,
-        EXEC_SETENV_RESULT     = 1U << 7,
-        EXEC_SET_WATCHDOG      = 1U << 8,
+        EXEC_PASS_FDS          = 1U << 6,
+        EXEC_IS_CONTROL        = 1U << 7,
+        EXEC_SETENV_RESULT     = 1U << 8,
+        EXEC_SET_WATCHDOG      = 1U << 9,
 } ExecFlags;
 
 struct ExecParameters {
diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 6ddaae8c91..91cb3ab43f 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -3422,7 +3422,7 @@ int manager_set_exec_params(Manager *m, ExecParameters *p) {
         p->cgroup_supported = m->cgroup_supported;
         p->prefix = m->prefix;
 
-        SET_FLAG(p->flags, EXEC_PASS_LOG_UNIT, MANAGER_IS_SYSTEM(m));
+        SET_FLAG(p->flags, EXEC_PASS_LOG_UNIT|EXEC_CHOWN_DIRECTORIES, MANAGER_IS_SYSTEM(m));
 
         return 0;
 }