diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build.go b/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build.go
index d45a5f89e..eed9b740d 100644
--- a/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build.go
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build.go
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ func runOsbuild(logger *logrus.Logger, buildDir string, control *controlJSON, ou
 	// #nosec G204
 	cmd = exec.Command(
 		"tar",
+		"--exclude=output/output.tar",
 		"-Scf",
 		filepath.Join(outputDir, "output.tar"),
 		"output",
@@ -97,7 +98,10 @@ func runOsbuild(logger *logrus.Logger, buildDir string, control *controlJSON, ou
 		_, _ = mw.Write([]byte(err.Error()))
 		return "", err
 	}
-	logger.Infof("tar output:\n%s", out)
+	if len(out) > 0 {
+		logger.Warnf("unexpected tar output:\n%s", out)
+	}
+
 	return outputDir, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build_test.go b/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build_test.go
index e9341e342..57decab58 100644
--- a/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build_test.go
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-worker-executor/handler_build_test.go
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ func makeTestPost(t *testing.T, controlJSON, manifestJSON string) *bytes.Buffer
 }
 
 func TestBuildIntegration(t *testing.T) {
-	baseURL, baseBuildDir, _ := runTestServer(t)
+	baseURL, baseBuildDir, loggerHook := runTestServer(t)
 	endpoint := baseURL + "api/v1/build"
 
 	// osbuild is called with --export tree and then the manifest.json
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@ echo "fake-build-result" > %[1]s/build/output/image/disk.img
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.True(t, stat.IsDir())
 
+	// ensure tar is not generating any warnings
+	for _, entry := range loggerHook.Entries {
+		assert.NotContains(t, entry.Message, "unexpected tar output")
+	}
+
 	// now get the result
 	endpoint = baseURL + "api/v1/result/image/disk.img"
 	rsp, err = http.Get(endpoint)