diff --git a/core/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPid.java b/core/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPid.java
index 0e71c292b37..7543d4f9f74 100644
--- a/core/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPid.java
+++ b/core/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPid.java
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ package org.springframework.boot.system;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-import java.io.FileWriter;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.LinkOption;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFilePermission;
 import java.util.Set;
 
@@ -106,31 +108,31 @@ public class ApplicationPid {
 	 */
 	public void write(File file) throws IOException {
 		Assert.state(this.pid != null, "No PID available");
-		createParentDirectory(file);
-		if (file.exists()) {
-			assertCanOverwrite(file);
-		}
-		try (FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(file)) {
-			writer.append(String.valueOf(this.pid));
+		Path path = file.toPath();
+		createParentDirectory(path);
+		if (Files.exists(path, LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS)) {
+			assertCanOverwrite(path);
 		}
+		Files.writeString(path, this.pid.toString(), StandardOpenOption.TRUNCATE_EXISTING, StandardOpenOption.CREATE,
+				LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS);
 	}
 
-	private void createParentDirectory(File file) {
-		File parent = file.getParentFile();
+	private void createParentDirectory(Path path) throws IOException {
+		Path parent = path.getParent();
 		if (parent != null) {
-			parent.mkdirs();
+			Files.createDirectories(parent);
 		}
 	}
 
-	private void assertCanOverwrite(File file) throws IOException {
-		if (!file.canWrite() || !canWritePosixFile(file)) {
-			throw new FileNotFoundException(file + " (permission denied)");
+	private void assertCanOverwrite(Path file) throws IOException {
+		if (!Files.isWritable(file) || !canWritePosixFile(file)) {
+			throw new FileNotFoundException(file.toString() + " (permission denied)");
 		}
 	}
 
-	private boolean canWritePosixFile(File file) throws IOException {
+	private boolean canWritePosixFile(Path file) throws IOException {
 		try {
-			Set<PosixFilePermission> permissions = Files.getPosixFilePermissions(file.toPath());
+			Set<PosixFilePermission> permissions = Files.getPosixFilePermissions(file, LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS);
 			for (PosixFilePermission permission : WRITE_PERMISSIONS) {
 				if (permissions.contains(permission)) {
 					return true;
diff --git a/core/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPidTests.java b/core/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPidTests.java
index 3f97831cd62..9da1d3e90f9 100644
--- a/core/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPidTests.java
+++ b/core/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/system/ApplicationPidTests.java
@@ -17,11 +17,18 @@
 package org.springframework.boot.system;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.DisabledOnOs;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.OS;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatIOException;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatIllegalStateException;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.contentOf;
 
@@ -71,6 +78,40 @@ class ApplicationPidTests {
 		assertThat(contentOf(file)).isEqualTo("123");
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void overwriteExistingPid() throws Exception {
+		File file = new File(this.tempDir, "pid");
+		new ApplicationPid(123L).write(file);
+		assertThat(contentOf(file)).isEqualTo("123");
+		new ApplicationPid(456L).write(file);
+		assertThat(contentOf(file)).isEqualTo("456");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	@DisabledOnOs(OS.WINDOWS)
+	void whenSymlinkToNonExistentTargetExistsAtPidFileLocationWriteThrows() throws IOException {
+		File link = new File(this.tempDir, "pid");
+		File target = new File(this.tempDir, "target");
+		Files.createSymbolicLink(link.toPath(), target.toPath());
+		ApplicationPid pid = new ApplicationPid(123L);
+		assertThatIOException().isThrownBy(() -> pid.write(link));
+		assertThat(Files.isSymbolicLink(link.toPath())).isTrue();
+		assertThat(target).doesNotExist();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	@DisabledOnOs(OS.WINDOWS)
+	void whenSymlinkToTargetExistsAtPidFileLocationWriteThrows() throws IOException {
+		File link = new File(this.tempDir, "pid");
+		Path target = new File(this.tempDir, "target").toPath();
+		Files.write(target, "target".getBytes(), StandardOpenOption.CREATE_NEW);
+		Files.createSymbolicLink(link.toPath(), target);
+		ApplicationPid pid = new ApplicationPid(123L);
+		assertThatIOException().isThrownBy(() -> pid.write(link));
+		assertThat(Files.isSymbolicLink(link.toPath())).isTrue();
+		assertThat(target).hasContent("target");
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void toLong() {
 		ApplicationPid pid = new ApplicationPid(123L);