diff --git a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/http_01.py b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/http_01.py
index 53ccd2bc7..ad62a77bb 100644
--- a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/http_01.py
+++ b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/_internal/http_01.py
@@ -169,8 +169,14 @@ class ApacheHttp01(common.ChallengePerformer):
     def _set_up_challenges(self):
         if not os.path.isdir(self.challenge_dir):
             old_umask = os.umask(0o022)
-            filesystem.makedirs(self.challenge_dir, 0o755)
-            os.umask(old_umask)
+            try:
+                filesystem.makedirs(self.challenge_dir, 0o755)
+            except OSError as exception:
+                if exception.errno not in (errno.EEXIST, errno.EISDIR):
+                    raise errors.PluginError(
+                        "Couldn't create root for http-01 challenge")
+            finally:
+                os.umask(old_umask)
 
         responses = []
         for achall in self.achalls: