diff --git a/builder/remotecontext/archive.go b/builder/remotecontext/archive.go
index fc18c5da31182888e28a0b87664bcf1695f1673a..b62d9dd0b742129f35386824f6e0d134dea94874 100644
--- a/builder/remotecontext/archive.go
+++ b/builder/remotecontext/archive.go
@@ -122,8 +122,5 @@ func normalize(path string, root containerfs.ContainerFS) (cleanPath, fullPath s
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", "", errors.Wrapf(err, "forbidden path outside the build context: %s (%s)", path, cleanPath)
 	}
-	if _, err := root.Lstat(fullPath); err != nil {
-		return "", "", errors.WithStack(convertPathError(err, path))
-	}
 	return
 }
diff --git a/builder/remotecontext/lazycontext.go b/builder/remotecontext/lazycontext.go
index 66f36defd4f51f8f972c1a28b1886224334b9381..14848baa13f396f48bf477ff24ed172470289b36 100644
--- a/builder/remotecontext/lazycontext.go
+++ b/builder/remotecontext/lazycontext.go
@@ -40,14 +40,14 @@ func (c *lazySource) Hash(path string) (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 
-	fi, err := c.root.Lstat(fullPath)
+	relPath, err := Rel(c.root, fullPath)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", errors.WithStack(err)
+		return "", errors.WithStack(convertPathError(err, cleanPath))
 	}
 
-	relPath, err := Rel(c.root, fullPath)
+	fi, err := os.Lstat(fullPath)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", errors.WithStack(convertPathError(err, cleanPath))
+		return relPath, nil
 	}
 
 	sum, ok := c.sums[relPath]