diff --git a/libs/entitlement/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTree.java b/libs/entitlement/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTree.java
index 62817f66f530c..16e7239678e62 100644
--- a/libs/entitlement/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTree.java
+++ b/libs/entitlement/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTree.java
@@ -156,14 +156,15 @@ private FileAccessTree(
         this.writePaths = pruneSortedPaths(writePaths).toArray(new String[0]);
     }
 
-    private static List<String> pruneSortedPaths(List<String> paths) {
+    // package private for testing
+    static List<String> pruneSortedPaths(List<String> paths) {
         List<String> prunedReadPaths = new ArrayList<>();
         if (paths.isEmpty() == false) {
             String currentPath = paths.get(0);
             prunedReadPaths.add(currentPath);
             for (int i = 1; i < paths.size(); ++i) {
                 String nextPath = paths.get(i);
-                if (isParent(currentPath, nextPath) == false) {
+                if (currentPath.equals(nextPath) == false && isParent(currentPath, nextPath) == false) {
                     prunedReadPaths.add(nextPath);
                     currentPath = nextPath;
                 }
diff --git a/libs/entitlement/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTreeTests.java b/libs/entitlement/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTreeTests.java
index 08625e02b9997..fbcbdc3ad5d18 100644
--- a/libs/entitlement/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTreeTests.java
+++ b/libs/entitlement/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/entitlement/runtime/policy/FileAccessTreeTests.java
@@ -347,6 +347,12 @@ public void testInvalidExclusiveAccess() {
         assertThat(tree.canWrite(path("a")), is(false));
     }
 
+    public void testDuplicatePrunedPaths() {
+        List<String> paths = List.of("/a", "/a", "/a/b", "/a/b", "/b/c", "b/c/d", "b/c/d", "b/c/d", "e/f", "e/f");
+        paths = FileAccessTree.pruneSortedPaths(paths);
+        assertEquals(List.of("/a", "/b/c", "b/c/d", "e/f"), paths);
+    }
+
     public void testWindowsAbsolutPathAccess() {
         assumeTrue("Specific to windows for paths with a root (DOS or UNC)", Platform.WINDOWS.isCurrent());