diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix
index 0477254e7c18..1f2e13f37325 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix
@@ -245,7 +245,11 @@ in {
         Group = "hass";
         Restart = "on-failure";
         ProtectSystem = "strict";
-        ReadWritePaths = "${cfg.configDir}";
+        ReadWritePaths = let
+          cfgPath = [ "config" "homeassistant" "allowlist_external_dirs" ];
+          value = attrByPath cfgPath [] cfg;
+          allowPaths = if isList value then value else singleton value;
+        in [ "${cfg.configDir}" ] ++ allowPaths;
         KillSignal = "SIGINT";
         PrivateTmp = true;
         RemoveIPC = true;