diff --git a/init/initramfs.c b/init/initramfs.c
index 77b934cccefe..679d870d991b 100644
--- a/init/initramfs.c
+++ b/init/initramfs.c
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ void __init populate_rootfs(void)
 			return;
 		}
 		printk("it isn't (%s); looks like an initrd\n", err);
-		fd = sys_open("/initrd.image", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT, 700);
+		fd = sys_open("/initrd.image", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT, 0700);
 		if (fd >= 0) {
 			sys_write(fd, (char *)initrd_start,
 					initrd_end - initrd_start);