diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/script.py b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/script.py
index c0b96d3ee04..c65e8cc8d18 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/script.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/script.py
@@ -58,15 +58,18 @@ class ActionModule(object):
 
         conn.put_file(source, tmp_src)
 
-        # fix file permissions when the copy is done as a different user
+        sudoable=True
+        # set file permissions, more permisive when the copy is done as a different user
         if self.runner.sudo and self.runner.sudo_user != 'root':
-            prepcmd = 'chmod a+rx %s' % tmp_src
+            cmd_args_chmod = "chmod a+rx %s" % tmp_src
+            sudoable=False
         else:
-            prepcmd = 'chmod +x %s' % tmp_src
+            cmd_args_chmod = "chmod +rx %s" % tmp_src
+        self.runner._low_level_exec_command(conn, cmd_args_chmod, tmp, sudoable=sudoable)
 
         # add preparation steps to one ssh roundtrip executing the script
         env_string = self.runner._compute_environment_string(inject)
-        module_args = prepcmd + '; ' + env_string + tmp_src + ' ' + args
+        module_args = env_string + tmp_src + ' ' + args
 
         handler = utils.plugins.action_loader.get('raw', self.runner)
         result = handler.run(conn, tmp, 'raw', module_args, inject)