diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.cc b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
index 345c09e7e9c..19ca1a3591e 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
@@ -3114,7 +3114,7 @@ std::optional<SourcePath> EvalState::resolveLookupPathPath(const LookupPath::Pat
             }
         }
 
-        if (path.pathExists())
+        if (path.resolveSymlinks().pathExists())
             return finish(std::move(path));
         else {
             logWarning({
diff --git a/tests/functional/restricted.sh b/tests/functional/restricted.sh
index a92a9b8a3a2..00ee4ddc8c2 100755
--- a/tests/functional/restricted.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/restricted.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ nix-instantiate --restrict-eval ./simple.nix -I src1=./simple.nix -I src2=./conf
 (! nix-instantiate --restrict-eval --eval -E 'builtins.readFile ./simple.nix')
 nix-instantiate --restrict-eval --eval -E 'builtins.readFile ./simple.nix' -I src=../..
 
-expectStderr 1 nix-instantiate --restrict-eval --eval -E 'let __nixPath = [ { prefix = "foo"; path = ./.; } ]; in builtins.readFile <foo/simple.nix>' | grepQuiet "was not found in the Nix search path"
+expectStderr 1 nix-instantiate --restrict-eval --eval -E 'let __nixPath = [ { prefix = "foo"; path = ./.; } ]; in builtins.readFile <foo/simple.nix>' | grepQuiet "forbidden in restricted mode"
 nix-instantiate --restrict-eval --eval -E 'let __nixPath = [ { prefix = "foo"; path = ./.; } ]; in builtins.readFile <foo/simple.nix>' -I src=.
 
 p=$(nix eval --raw --expr "builtins.fetchurl file://${_NIX_TEST_SOURCE_DIR}/restricted.sh" --impure --restrict-eval --allowed-uris "file://${_NIX_TEST_SOURCE_DIR}")