diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mirdeep2/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mirdeep2/package.py
index 1b62e56e206..4fde162ae92 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mirdeep2/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mirdeep2/package.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
 from spack import *
+from os import chmod
 import glob
 
 
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ def patch(self):
         with working_dir('src'):
             files = glob.iglob("*.pl")
             for file in files:
+                chmod(file, 0o755)
                 change = FileFilter(file)
                 change.filter('usr/bin/perl', 'usr/bin/env perl')
                 change.filter('perl -W', 'perl')