diff --git a/changes/ticket26913 b/changes/ticket26913
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d6555764ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/ticket26913
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (directory permissions):
+    - When a user requests a group-readable DataDirectory, give it to
+      them. Previously, when the DataDirectory and the CacheDirectory
+      were the same, the default setting (0) for
+      CacheDirectoryGroupReadable would always override the setting for
+      DataDirectoryGroupReadable. Fixes bug 26913; bugfix on
+      0.3.3.1-alpha.
diff --git a/doc/tor.1.txt b/doc/tor.1.txt
index f894061808..c089bffbb0 100644
--- a/doc/tor.1.txt
+++ b/doc/tor.1.txt
@@ -423,10 +423,12 @@ GENERAL OPTIONS
     running.
     (Default: uses the value of DataDirectory.)
 
-[[CacheDirectoryGroupReadable]] **CacheDirectoryGroupReadable** **0**|**1**::
+[[CacheDirectoryGroupReadable]] **CacheDirectoryGroupReadable** **0**|**1**|**auto**::
     If this option is set to 0, don't allow the filesystem group to read the
     CacheDirectory. If the option is set to 1, make the CacheDirectory readable
-    by the default GID. (Default: 0)
+    by the default GID. If the option is "auto", then we use the
+    setting for DataDirectoryGroupReadable when the CacheDirectory is the
+    same as the DataDirectory, and 0 otherwise. (Default: auto)
 
 [[FallbackDir]] **FallbackDir** __ipv4address__:__port__ orport=__port__ id=__fingerprint__ [weight=__num__] [ipv6=**[**__ipv6address__**]**:__orport__]::
     When we're unable to connect to any directory cache for directory info
diff --git a/src/or/config.c b/src/or/config.c
index 58080c65e3..e50e6efa20 100644
--- a/src/or/config.c
+++ b/src/or/config.c
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ static config_var_t option_vars_[] = {
   V(BridgeRelay,                 BOOL,     "0"),
   V(BridgeDistribution,          STRING,   NULL),
   VAR("CacheDirectory",          FILENAME, CacheDirectory_option, NULL),
-  V(CacheDirectoryGroupReadable, BOOL,     "0"),
+  V(CacheDirectoryGroupReadable, AUTOBOOL,     "auto"),
   V(CellStatistics,              BOOL,     "0"),
   V(PaddingStatistics,           BOOL,     "1"),
   V(LearnCircuitBuildTimeout,    BOOL,     "1"),
@@ -1516,9 +1516,26 @@ options_act_reversible(const or_options_t *old_options, char **msg)
                                       msg) < 0) {
     goto done;
   }
+
+  /* We need to handle the group-readable flag for the cache directory
+   * specially, since the directory defaults to being the same as the
+   * DataDirectory. */
+  int cache_dir_group_readable;
+  if (options->CacheDirectoryGroupReadable != -1) {
+    /* If the user specified a value, use their setting */
+    cache_dir_group_readable = options->CacheDirectoryGroupReadable;
+  } else if (!strcmp(options->CacheDirectory, options->DataDirectory)) {
+    /* If the user left the value as "auto", and the cache is the same as the
+     * datadirectory, use the datadirectory setting.
+     */
+    cache_dir_group_readable = options->DataDirectoryGroupReadable;
+  } else {
+    /* Otherwise, "auto" means "not group readable". */
+    cache_dir_group_readable = 0;
+  }
   if (check_and_create_data_directory(running_tor /* create */,
                                       options->CacheDirectory,
-                                      options->CacheDirectoryGroupReadable,
+                                      cache_dir_group_readable,
                                       options->User,
                                       msg) < 0) {
     goto done;