diff --git a/src/rpc/protocol.h b/src/rpc/protocol.h
--- a/src/rpc/protocol.h
+++ b/src/rpc/protocol.h
@@ -130,8 +130,6 @@
                          const UniValue &id);
 UniValue JSONRPCError(int code, const std::string &message);
 
-/** Get name of RPC authentication cookie file */
-fs::path GetAuthCookieFile();
 /** Generate a new RPC authentication cookie and write it to disk */
 bool GenerateAuthCookie(std::string *cookie_out);
 /** Read the RPC authentication cookie from disk */
diff --git a/src/rpc/protocol.cpp b/src/rpc/protocol.cpp
--- a/src/rpc/protocol.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/protocol.cpp
@@ -66,8 +66,13 @@
 /** Default name for auth cookie file */
 static const std::string COOKIEAUTH_FILE = ".cookie";
 
-fs::path GetAuthCookieFile() {
-    fs::path path(gArgs.GetArg("-rpccookiefile", COOKIEAUTH_FILE));
+/** Get name of RPC authentication cookie file */
+static fs::path GetAuthCookieFile(bool temp = false) {
+    std::string arg = gArgs.GetArg("-rpccookiefile", COOKIEAUTH_FILE);
+    if (temp) {
+        arg += ".tmp";
+    }
+    fs::path path(arg);
     if (!path.is_complete()) {
         path = GetDataDir() / path;
     }
@@ -85,15 +90,22 @@
      * these are set to 077 in init.cpp unless overridden with -sysperms.
      */
     std::ofstream file;
-    fs::path filepath = GetAuthCookieFile();
-    file.open(filepath.string().c_str());
+    fs::path filepath_tmp = GetAuthCookieFile(true);
+    file.open(filepath_tmp.string().c_str());
     if (!file.is_open()) {
         LogPrintf("Unable to open cookie authentication file %s for writing\n",
-                  filepath.string());
+                  filepath_tmp.string());
         return false;
     }
     file << cookie;
     file.close();
+
+    fs::path filepath = GetAuthCookieFile(false);
+    if (!RenameOver(filepath_tmp, filepath)) {
+        LogPrintf("Unable to rename cookie authentication file %s to %s\n",
+                  filepath_tmp.string(), filepath.string());
+        return false;
+    }
     LogPrintf("Generated RPC authentication cookie %s\n", filepath.string());
 
     if (cookie_out) {