diff --git a/Lib/tarfile.py b/Lib/tarfile.py
index 212b71f6509740..1056341b6839d3 100644
--- a/Lib/tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/tarfile.py
@@ -2389,20 +2389,34 @@ def extractall(self, path=".", members=None, *, numeric_owner=False,
             tarinfo = self._get_extract_tarinfo(member, filter_function, path)
             if tarinfo is None:
                 continue
+            self._extract_one(tarinfo, path, set_attrs=not tarinfo.isdir(),
+                              numeric_owner=numeric_owner)
             if tarinfo.isdir():
                 # For directories, delay setting attributes until later,
                 # since permissions can interfere with extraction and
                 # extracting contents can reset mtime.
-                directories.append(tarinfo)
-            self._extract_one(tarinfo, path, set_attrs=not tarinfo.isdir(),
-                              numeric_owner=numeric_owner)
+                # We also the keep the original inode and device, to detect
+                # if it was changed during extraction.
+                dirpath = os.path.join(path, tarinfo.name)
+                dirpath = self._transform_destination_path(dirpath)
+                targetstat = os.stat(dirpath, follow_symlinks=False)
+                directories.append((tarinfo, dirpath, targetstat.st_ino,
+                                    targetstat.st_dev))
 
         # Reverse sort directories.
-        directories.sort(key=lambda a: a.name, reverse=True)
+        directories.sort(key=lambda a: a[0].name, reverse=True)
 
         # Set correct owner, mtime and filemode on directories.
-        for tarinfo in directories:
-            dirpath = os.path.join(path, tarinfo.name)
+        for tarinfo, dirpath, original_ino, original_dev in directories:
+            dirstat = os.stat(dirpath, follow_symlinks=False)
+            if (dirstat.st_ino != original_ino or
+                dirstat.st_dev != original_dev or
+                not stat.S_ISDIR(dirstat.st_mode) # just in case the inode was reused
+            ):
+                self._dbg(1, "tarfile: Directory renamed before its " \
+                     "attributes could be extracted %r" % dirpath)
+                continue
+
             try:
                 self.chown(tarinfo, dirpath, numeric_owner=numeric_owner)
                 self.utime(tarinfo, dirpath)
@@ -2516,16 +2530,18 @@ def extractfile(self, member):
             # blkdev, etc.), return None instead of a file object.
             return None
 
+    def _transform_destination_path(self, targetpath):
+        # Build the destination pathname, replacing
+        # forward slashes to platform specific separators.
+        targetpath = targetpath.rstrip("/")
+        return targetpath.replace("/", os.sep)
+
     def _extract_member(self, tarinfo, targetpath, set_attrs=True,
                         numeric_owner=False):
         """Extract the TarInfo object tarinfo to a physical
            file called targetpath.
         """
-        # Fetch the TarInfo object for the given name
-        # and build the destination pathname, replacing
-        # forward slashes to platform specific separators.
-        targetpath = targetpath.rstrip("/")
-        targetpath = targetpath.replace("/", os.sep)
+        targetpath = self._transform_destination_path(targetpath)
 
         # Create all upper directories.
         upperdirs = os.path.dirname(targetpath)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
index 2018a20afd1b18..31a7fac3ad5123 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
@@ -2715,6 +2715,31 @@ def test_useful_error_message_when_modules_missing(self):
             str(excinfo.exception),
         )
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(os_helper.can_symlink(), 'requires symlink support')
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(os, 'chmod'), "missing os.chmod")
+    @unittest.mock.patch('os.chmod')
+    def test_deferred_directory_attributes_update(self, mock_chmod):
+        # Regression test for gh-127987: setting attributes on arbitrary files
+        tempdir = os.path.join(TEMPDIR, 'test127987')
+        def mock_chmod_side_effect(path, mode, **kwargs):
+            target_path = os.path.realpath(path)
+            if os.path.commonpath([target_path, tempdir]) != tempdir:
+                raise Exception("should not try to chmod anything outside the destination", target_path)
+        mock_chmod.side_effect = mock_chmod_side_effect
+
+        outside_tree_dir = os.path.join(TEMPDIR, 'outside_tree_dir')
+        with ArchiveMaker() as arc:
+            arc.add('x', symlink_to='.')
+            arc.add('x', type=tarfile.DIRTYPE, mode='?rwsrwsrwt')
+            arc.add('x', symlink_to=outside_tree_dir)
+
+        os.makedirs(outside_tree_dir)
+        try:
+            arc.open().extractall(path=tempdir, filter='tar')
+        finally:
+            os_helper.rmtree(outside_tree_dir)
+            os_helper.rmtree(tempdir)
+
 
 class CommandLineTest(unittest.TestCase):