diff --git a/ipn/localapi/debug.go b/ipn/localapi/debug.go
index 6b304b752..b2aa87fff 100644
--- a/ipn/localapi/debug.go
+++ b/ipn/localapi/debug.go
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ func (h *Handler) serveDebugLog(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		http.Error(w, feature.ErrUnavailable.Error(), http.StatusNotImplemented)
 		return
 	}
-	if !h.PermitRead {
+	if !h.PermitWrite {
 		http.Error(w, "debug-log access denied", http.StatusForbidden)
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/ipn/localapi/debug_test.go b/ipn/localapi/debug_test.go
index 0f4374c42..58bda7f37 100644
--- a/ipn/localapi/debug_test.go
+++ b/ipn/localapi/debug_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"net/url"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"tailscale.com/ipn"
@@ -73,3 +74,44 @@ func TestServeDevSetStateStore(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestServeDebugLogGate(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		desc        string
+		permitRead  bool
+		permitWrite bool
+		wantStatus  int
+	}{
+		{
+			desc:       "read-only-denied",
+			permitRead: true,
+			wantStatus: http.StatusForbidden,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:        "write-allowed",
+			permitRead:  true,
+			permitWrite: true,
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusNoContent,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.desc, func(t *testing.T) {
+			h := handlerForTest(t, &Handler{
+				PermitRead:  tt.permitRead,
+				PermitWrite: tt.permitWrite,
+				b:           newTestLocalBackend(t),
+			})
+			req := httptest.NewRequest("POST", "http://local-tailscaled.sock/localapi/v0/debug-log",
+				strings.NewReader(`{"prefix":"test","lines":["line"]}`))
+			resp := httptest.NewRecorder()
+			h.serveDebugLog(resp, req)
+
+			if resp.Code != tt.wantStatus {
+				t.Errorf("resp.Code = %d, want %d; body: %s", resp.Code, tt.wantStatus, resp.Body.String())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/ipn/localapi/localapi_test.go b/ipn/localapi/localapi_test.go
index 14e9d5ad2..a0426715c 100644
--- a/ipn/localapi/localapi_test.go
+++ b/ipn/localapi/localapi_test.go
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import (
 	"tailscale.com/tailcfg/peercap"
 	"tailscale.com/tsd"
 	"tailscale.com/tstest"
+	"tailscale.com/tstime"
 	"tailscale.com/types/key"
 	"tailscale.com/types/logger"
 	"tailscale.com/types/logid"
@@ -53,6 +54,9 @@ func handlerForTest(t testing.TB, h *Handler) *Handler {
 	if h.logf == nil {
 		h.logf = logger.TestLogger(t)
 	}
+	if h.clock == nil {
+		h.clock = tstime.StdClock{}
+	}
 	return h
 }