diff --git a/libcxx/test/support/filesystem_test_helper.h b/libcxx/test/support/filesystem_test_helper.h
--- a/libcxx/test/support/filesystem_test_helper.h
+++ b/libcxx/test/support/filesystem_test_helper.h
@@ -141,7 +141,13 @@
 #else
         std::string cmd = "chmod -R 777 " + test_root.string();
         int ret = std::system(cmd.c_str());
+#if !defined(_AIX)
+	// On AIX the chmod command will return non-zero when trying to set
+	// the permissions on a directory that contains a bad symlink. This triggers
+	// the assert, despite being able to delete everything with the following
+	// `rm -r` command.
         assert(ret == 0);
+#endif
 
         cmd = "rm -r " + test_root.string();
         ret = std::system(cmd.c_str());