diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 9f70edd44..d7a8b2ca7 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ esbuild_register_toolchains(
 http_file(
     name = "bazel_linux_x86_64",
     downloaded_file_path = "bazel",
+    executable = True,
     sha256 = "e89747d63443e225b140d7d37ded952dacea73aaed896bca01ccd745827c6289",
     urls = [
         "https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/6.1.2/bazel-6.1.2-linux-x86_64",
diff --git a/tests/ts/bazel_repository_test.sh b/tests/ts/bazel_repository_test.sh
index 503080932..94e115c74 100755
--- a/tests/ts/bazel_repository_test.sh
+++ b/tests/ts/bazel_repository_test.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ source "${RUNFILES_DIR:-/dev/null}/$f" 2>/dev/null || \
 BAZEL_BIN="$(rlocation bazel_linux_x86_64/file/bazel)"
 readonly BAZEL_BIN
 
-if [[ ! -e "${BAZEL_BIN}" ]]; then
+if [[ ! -x "${BAZEL_BIN}" ]]; then
     echo "Failed to find the bazel binary." >&2
     exit 1
 fi