--- container/catalina/src/share/org/apache/catalina/startup/ExpandWar.java	(revision 1359975)
+++ container/catalina/src/share/org/apache/catalina/startup/ExpandWar.java	(working copy)
@@ -162,7 +162,10 @@ 
                 if (last >= 0) {
                     File parent = new File(docBase,
                                            name.substring(0, last));
-                    parent.mkdirs();
+                    if(!parent.mkdirs() && !parent.isDirectory()) {
+                      throw new IOException(
+                                sm.getString("expandWar.createFailed", parent));
+                    }
                 }
                 if (name.endsWith("/")) {
                     continue;
--- container/catalina/src/share/org/apache/catalina/startup/LocalStrings.properties	(revision 1359975)
+++ container/catalina/src/share/org/apache/catalina/startup/LocalStrings.properties	(working copy)
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ 
 expandWar.copy=Error copying {0} to {1}
 expandWar.deleteFailed=[{0}] could not be completely deleted. The presence of the remaining files may cause problems
 expandWar.illegalPath=The archive [{0}] is malformed and will be ignored: an entry contains an illegal path [{1}]
+expandWar.createFailed=Unable to create the directory [{0}]
 hostConfig.appBase=Application base directory {0} does not exist
 hostConfig.canonicalizing=Error delete redeploy resources from context [{0}]
 hostConfig.cce=Lifecycle event data object {0} is not a Host