diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 8b5c6bc81f..4e7384b6e8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ git-annex (10.20230408) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     --json-error-messages is enabled, output a JSON object indicating the
     problem. (But git ls-files --error-unmatch still displays errors about
     such files in some situations.)
+  * init: Bug fix: Create .git/annex/ and .git/annex/fsckdb/ directories with
+    permissions configured by core.sharedRepository.
   * Warn about unsupported core.sharedRepository=0xxx when set.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Sat, 08 Apr 2023 13:57:18 -0400
diff --git a/Database/Init.hs b/Database/Init.hs
index 570cf5b32a..ac33fdae03 100644
--- a/Database/Init.hs
+++ b/Database/Init.hs
@@ -10,10 +10,8 @@
 module Database.Init where
 
 import Annex.Common
-import qualified Annex
 import Annex.Perms
 import Utility.FileMode
-import Utility.Directory.Create
 import qualified Utility.RawFilePath as R
 
 import Database.Persist.Sqlite
@@ -35,14 +33,8 @@ initDb db migration = do
 	let tmpdbdir = dbdir <> ".tmp"
 	let tmpdb = tmpdbdir P.</> "db"
 	let tdb = T.pack (fromRawFilePath tmpdb)
-	gc <- Annex.getGitConfig
-	top <- parentDir <$> fromRepo gitAnnexDir
-	let tops = case annexDbDir gc of
-		Just topdbdir -> [top, parentDir (parentDir topdbdir)]
-		Nothing -> [top]
-	liftIO $ do
-		createDirectoryUnder tops tmpdbdir
-		runSqliteInfo (enableWAL tdb) migration
+	createAnnexDirectory tmpdbdir
+	liftIO $ runSqliteInfo (enableWAL tdb) migration
 	setAnnexDirPerm tmpdbdir
 	-- Work around sqlite bug that prevents it from honoring
 	-- less restrictive umasks.