diff --git a/lib/session.php b/lib/session.php
index 0387bb494a562402ea625e9018fd41e69d1d8f53..069a315a9dce9bb9278669f0da5a452793a3be77 100644
--- a/lib/session.php
+++ b/lib/session.php
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ class Session
         // the bash script returns 0 for no and 1 for yes, takes one arg, username
         $this->email = shell_exec("../plugins/sucsunreadmail $user");
 
-        if (file_exists($info['homedirectory'][0] . "/.forward")) {
+        if (file_exists($info['homedirectory'][0] . "/.forward") && ! is_link($info['homedirectory'][0] . "/.forward")) {
             $forward = file($info['homedirectory'][0] . "/.forward");
             $this->email_forward = preg_replace("/\n/", "", $forward[0]);
         }