diff --git a/internal/cli/banger.go b/internal/cli/banger.go
index cb595b6..56e850d 100644
--- a/internal/cli/banger.go
+++ b/internal/cli/banger.go
@@ -1589,7 +1589,7 @@ func importVMRunRepoToGuest(ctx context.Context, client vmRunGuestClient, spec v
 		return formatVMRunStepError("prepare guest checkout", err, scriptLog.String())
 	}
 	var overlayLog bytes.Buffer
-	remoteCommand := fmt.Sprintf("tar -C %s --strip-components=1 -xf -", shellQuote(vmRunGuestDir(spec.RepoName)))
+	remoteCommand := fmt.Sprintf("tar -o -C %s --strip-components=1 -xf -", shellQuote(vmRunGuestDir(spec.RepoName)))
 	if err := client.StreamTarEntries(ctx, spec.RepoRoot, spec.OverlayPaths, remoteCommand, &overlayLog); err != nil {
 		return formatVMRunStepError("overlay host working tree", err, overlayLog.String())
 	}
@@ -1640,6 +1640,7 @@ func vmRunCloneScript(spec vmRunRepoSpec) string {
 		fmt.Fprintf(&script, "git -C \"$DIR\" checkout --detach %s\n", shellQuote(spec.HeadCommit))
 	}
 	script.WriteString("find \"$DIR\" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 ! -name .git -exec rm -rf {} +\n")
+	script.WriteString("git config --global --add safe.directory \"$DIR\"\n")
 	return script.String()
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/cli/cli_test.go b/internal/cli/cli_test.go
index 5083811..95e77ad 100644
--- a/internal/cli/cli_test.go
+++ b/internal/cli/cli_test.go
@@ -1121,13 +1121,16 @@ func TestRunVMRunCreatesImportsAndAttaches(t *testing.T) {
 	if !strings.Contains(fakeClient.script, `git -C "$DIR" checkout -B 'feature' 'cafebabe'`) {
 		t.Fatalf("script = %q, want guest branch checkout", fakeClient.script)
 	}
+	if !strings.Contains(fakeClient.script, `git config --global --add safe.directory "$DIR"`) {
+		t.Fatalf("script = %q, want guest safe.directory config", fakeClient.script)
+	}
 	if fakeClient.streamSourceDir != repoRoot {
 		t.Fatalf("streamSourceDir = %q, want %q", fakeClient.streamSourceDir, repoRoot)
 	}
 	if !reflect.DeepEqual(fakeClient.streamEntries, spec.OverlayPaths) {
 		t.Fatalf("streamEntries = %v, want %v", fakeClient.streamEntries, spec.OverlayPaths)
 	}
-	if fakeClient.streamCommand != "tar -C '/root/repo' --strip-components=1 -xf -" {
+	if fakeClient.streamCommand != "tar -o -C '/root/repo' --strip-components=1 -xf -" {
 		t.Fatalf("streamCommand = %q", fakeClient.streamCommand)
 	}
 	wantAttach := []string{"attach", "--dir", "/root/repo", "http://172.16.0.2:4096"}