diff --git a/core/tx_journal.go b/core/tx_journal.go
index 41b5156d4..d282126a0 100644
--- a/core/tx_journal.go
+++ b/core/tx_journal.go
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ func (journal *txJournal) rotate(all map[common.Address]types.Transactions) erro
 		journal.writer = nil
 	}
 	// Generate a new journal with the contents of the current pool
-	replacement, err := os.OpenFile(journal.path+".new", os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC, 0755)
+	replacement, err := os.OpenFile(journal.path+".new", os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC, 0644)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func (journal *txJournal) rotate(all map[common.Address]types.Transactions) erro
 	if err = os.Rename(journal.path+".new", journal.path); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	sink, err := os.OpenFile(journal.path, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_APPEND, 0755)
+	sink, err := os.OpenFile(journal.path, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_APPEND, 0644)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}