vfs: lchown follows symlinks instead of updating the link

[trivikr]

Version

main

Platform

macOS 26.5.2

Subsystem

vfs

What steps will reproduce the bug?

import fs from 'node:fs';
import path from 'node:path';
import vfs from 'node:vfs';

const mountPoint = path.resolve(`/tmp/vfs-lchown-${process.pid}`);

const virtualFs = vfs.create({ emitExperimentalWarning: false });
virtualFs.writeFileSync('/target.txt', 'target');
virtualFs.symlinkSync('/target.txt', '/link.txt');
virtualFs.mount(mountPoint);

fs.lchownSync(path.join(mountPoint, 'link.txt'), 123, 456);

virtualFs.unmount();

const targetStats = virtualFs.lstatSync('/target.txt');
const linkStats = virtualFs.lstatSync('/link.txt');

console.log({
  target: { uid: targetStats.uid, gid: targetStats.gid },
  link: { uid: linkStats.uid, gid: linkStats.gid },
});

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Always

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

{
  target: { uid: 0, gid: 0 },
  link: { uid: 123, gid: 456 }
}

lchown should not follow the symlink; it should update the symlink’s own metadata and leave the target unchanged.

What do you see instead?

{
  target: { uid: 123, gid: 456 },
  link: { uid: 0, gid: 0 }
}

fs.lchownSync() updates the symlink target’s uid/gid while the symlink itself remains unchanged.

Additional information

No response