diff --git a/config/cfgroot/ids-functions.pl b/config/cfgroot/ids-functions.pl
index 783fd0166..28f08182a 100644
--- a/config/cfgroot/ids-functions.pl
+++ b/config/cfgroot/ids-functions.pl
@@ -385,6 +385,12 @@ sub create_empty_file($) {
 ## If not, call suricatactrl to fix them.
 #
 sub _check_rulesdir_permissions() {
+	# Check if the rulepath main directory is writable.
+	unless (-W $rulespath) {
+		# If not call suricatctrl to fix it.
+		&call_suricatactrl("fix-rules-dir");
+	}
+
 	# Open snort rules directory and do a directory listing.
 	opendir(DIR, $rulespath) or die $!;
 	# Loop through the direcory.
diff --git a/src/misc-progs/suricatactrl.c b/src/misc-progs/suricatactrl.c
index 61b76273d..cc674e0f5 100644
--- a/src/misc-progs/suricatactrl.c
+++ b/src/misc-progs/suricatactrl.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	} else if (strcmp(argv[1], "reload") == 0) {
 		safe_system("/etc/rc.d/init.d/suricata reload");
 	} else if (strcmp(argv[1], "fix-rules-dir") == 0) {
-		safe_system("chown nobody:nobody /etc/suricata/rules/*");
+		safe_system("chown -R nobody:nobody /etc/suricata/rules/");
 	} else {
 		fprintf(stderr, "\nBad argument given.\n\nsuricatactrl (start|stop|restart|reload)\n\n");
 		exit(1);