diff --git a/lib/internal/fs/rimraf.js b/lib/internal/fs/rimraf.js
index 675c2448c4568c5..d6ce831884516ce 100644
--- a/lib/internal/fs/rimraf.js
+++ b/lib/internal/fs/rimraf.js
@@ -219,6 +219,12 @@ function _unlinkSync(path, options) {
           i < tries &&
           options.retryDelay > 0) {
         sleep(i * options.retryDelay);
+      } else {
+        // The file is already gone.
+        if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
+          return;
+        }
+        throw err;
       }
     }
   }
@@ -259,10 +265,18 @@ function _rmdirSync(path, options, originalErr) {
               i < tries &&
               options.retryDelay > 0) {
             sleep(i * options.retryDelay);
+          } else {
+            // The file is already gone.
+            if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
+              return;
+            }
+            throw err;
           }
         }
       }
     }
+
+    throw originalErr;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-rm.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-rm.js
index 5bb5d2de553eee0..aea3511e7d87c9a 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-fs-rm.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-rm.js
@@ -280,3 +280,24 @@ function removeAsync(dir) {
     message: /^The value of "options\.maxRetries" is out of range\./
   });
 }
+
+{
+  // Check that deleting a file that cannot be accessed using rmsync throws
+  const dirname = nextDirPath();
+  try {
+    fs.mkdirSync(dirname, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dirname, 'text.txt'), 'hello');
+    fs.chmodSync(dirname, '500');
+    assert.throws(() => {
+      fs.rmSync(`${dirname}/text.txt`, { force: true });
+    }, {
+      code: 'EACCES',
+      syscall: 'unlink',
+      name: 'Error',
+      errno: -13,
+    });
+  } finally {
+    fs.chmodSync(dirname, '777');
+    fs.rmSync(`${dirname}/text.txt`, { force: true });
+  }
+}