diff --git a/src/installer/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp b/src/installer/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp
index 8159130afc86cb..c98f562b3a4f12 100644
--- a/src/installer/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp
+++ b/src/installer/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp
@@ -744,12 +744,7 @@ bool pal::realpath(pal::string_t* path, bool skip_error_logging)
 
 bool pal::file_exists(const pal::string_t& path)
 {
-    if (path.empty())
-    {
-        return false;
-    }
-    struct stat buffer;
-    return (::stat(path.c_str(), &buffer) == 0);
+    return (::access(path.c_str(), F_OK) == 0);
 }
 
 static void readdir(const pal::string_t& path, const pal::string_t& pattern, bool onlydirectories, std::vector<pal::string_t>* list)