diff --git a/phpseclib/Net/SFTP.php b/phpseclib/Net/SFTP.php
index b056628f..361aac78 100644
--- a/phpseclib/Net/SFTP.php
+++ b/phpseclib/Net/SFTP.php
@@ -1454,6 +1454,7 @@ class Net_SFTP extends Net_SSH2
             return true;
         }
 
+        $filename = $this->_realPath($filename);
         // rather than return what the permissions *should* be, we'll return what they actually are.  this will also
         // tell us if the file actually exists.
         // incidentally, SFTPv4+ adds an additional 32-bit integer field - flags - to the following: