diff --git a/cmake/EnvConfig/Variable.py b/cmake/EnvConfig/Variable.py
index e1019b2c38bc07aa2e64768d5cca5987959d69e0..ed32a8981a5f3740962f9e4d6d10240966cebc76 100644
--- a/cmake/EnvConfig/Variable.py
+++ b/cmake/EnvConfig/Variable.py
@@ -126,8 +126,9 @@ class EmptyDirsRemover(ListProcessor):
     '''
     def process(self, variable, value):
         from os.path import isdir
-        from os import listdir
-        return [s for s in value if s.endswith('.zip') or (isdir(s) and listdir(s))]
+        from os import listdir, access
+        return [s for s in value if s.endswith('.zip') or 
+                (isdir(s) and access(s, os.R_OK) and listdir(s))]
 
 class UsePythonZip(ListProcessor):
     '''