diff --git a/src/wic/oe/path.py b/src/wic/oe/path.py
index 862edc532ade..13c52b363694 100644
--- a/src/wic/oe/path.py
+++ b/src/wic/oe/path.py
@@ -168,7 +168,18 @@ def symlink(source, destination, force=False):
     """Create a symbolic link"""
     try:
         if force:
-            remove(destination)
+            # Remove the exact destination path. Do not route this through
+            # remove(), which treats its argument as a glob pattern: a
+            # destination containing glob metacharacters (for example a
+            # '[' in the name) could fail to match, or match and delete
+            # unrelated files.
+            try:
+                os.unlink(destination)
+            except OSError as exc:
+                if exc.errno == errno.EISDIR:
+                    shutil.rmtree(destination)
+                elif exc.errno != errno.ENOENT:
+                    raise
         os.symlink(source, destination)
     except OSError as e:
         if e.errno != errno.EEXIST or os.readlink(destination) != source: