diff --git a/src/node_file.cc b/src/node_file.cc
index c2cd5998e6f..e8b06a1c3fd 100644
--- a/src/node_file.cc
+++ b/src/node_file.cc
@@ -4616,8 +4616,8 @@ static void CpSyncCheckPaths(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
 
   std::error_code error_code;
   auto src_status = dereference
-                        ? std::filesystem::symlink_status(src_path, error_code)
-                        : std::filesystem::status(src_path, error_code);
+                        ? std::filesystem::status(src_path, error_code)
+                        : std::filesystem::symlink_status(src_path, error_code);
 
   if (error_code) {
 #ifdef _WIN32
@@ -4635,9 +4635,7 @@ static void CpSyncCheckPaths(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
 
   bool dest_exists = !error_code && dest_status.type() !=
                                         std::filesystem::file_type::not_found;
-  bool src_is_dir =
-      (src_status.type() == std::filesystem::file_type::directory) ||
-      (dereference && src_status.type() == std::filesystem::file_type::symlink);
+  bool src_is_dir = src_status.type() == std::filesystem::file_type::directory;
 
   auto src_path_str = ConvertPathToUTF8(src_path);
   auto dest_path_str = ConvertPathToUTF8(dest_path);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-cp-dereference-symlink-to-file.mjs b/test/parallel/test-fs-cp-dereference-symlink-to-file.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8c921630366
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-cp-dereference-symlink-to-file.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+// This tests that cp() and cpSync() copy the target file of a symlink passed
+// as src when dereference is true and recursive is not set.
+
+import { mustCall, mustNotMutateObjectDeep } from '../common/index.mjs';
+import { nextdir } from '../common/fs.js';
+import assert from 'node:assert';
+import {
+  cp,
+  cpSync,
+  lstatSync,
+  mkdirSync,
+  readFileSync,
+  symlinkSync,
+  writeFileSync,
+} from 'node:fs';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import tmpdir from '../common/tmpdir.js';
+
+tmpdir.refresh();
+
+const src = nextdir();
+mkdirSync(src);
+writeFileSync(join(src, 'foo.txt'), 'foo');
+symlinkSync(join(src, 'foo.txt'), join(src, 'link.txt'));
+
+const opts = mustNotMutateObjectDeep({ dereference: true });
+
+{
+  const dest = join(nextdir(), 'foo.txt');
+  cpSync(join(src, 'link.txt'), dest, opts);
+  assert(lstatSync(dest).isFile());
+  assert.strictEqual(readFileSync(dest, 'utf8'), 'foo');
+}
+
+{
+  const dest = join(nextdir(), 'foo.txt');
+  cp(join(src, 'link.txt'), dest, opts, mustCall((err) => {
+    assert.ifError(err);
+    assert(lstatSync(dest).isFile());
+    assert.strictEqual(readFileSync(dest, 'utf8'), 'foo');
+  }));
+}