diff --git a/ddclient.in b/ddclient.in
index b33f097..fd5122b 100755
--- a/ddclient.in
+++ b/ddclient.in
@@ -1011,8 +1011,9 @@ sub write_cache {
 
         $saved_cache = undef;
         local *FD;
-        if (!open(FD, "> $file")) {
-            fatal("Cannot create file '%s'. (%s)", $file, $!);
+        if (!open(FD, ">", $file)) {
+            warning("Failed to create cache file %s: %s", $file, $!);
+            return;
         }
         printf FD "## %s-%s\n", $program, $version;
         printf FD "## last updated at %s (%d)\n", prettytime($now), $now;
diff --git a/t/write_cache.pl b/t/write_cache.pl
index 3b98e58..de3b6f2 100644
--- a/t/write_cache.pl
+++ b/t/write_cache.pl
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ $module->redefine('warning', sub {
 my $tmpdir = File::Temp->newdir();
 my $dir = $tmpdir->dirname();
 diag("temporary directory: $dir");
+my $ro_tmpdir = File::Temp->newdir();
+my $ro_dir = $ro_tmpdir->dirname();
+chmod(0500, $ro_dir) or BAIL_OUT($!);
+diag("temporary read-only directory: $ro_dir");
 
 sub tc {
     return {
@@ -28,6 +32,7 @@ my @test_cases = (
     tc("create cache file",    catfile($dir, 'a', 'b', 'cachefile'),        undef),
     tc("overwrite cache file", catfile($dir, 'a', 'b', 'cachefile'),        undef),
     tc("bad directory",        catfile($dir, 'a', 'b', 'cachefile', 'bad'), qr/File exists/),
+    tc("read-only directory",  catfile($ro_dir, 'cachefile'),               qr/Permission denied/),
 );
 
 for my $tc (@test_cases) {