diff --git a/snakemake/persistence.py b/snakemake/persistence.py
index ceb9e1cb3..e8b83c67e 100755
--- a/snakemake/persistence.py
+++ b/snakemake/persistence.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import marshal
 import pickle
 import json
+import tempfile
 import time
 from base64 import urlsafe_b64encode, b64encode
 from functools import lru_cache, partial
@@ -434,9 +435,20 @@ def _output(self, job):
 
     def _record(self, subject, json_value, id):
         recpath = self._record_path(subject, id)
-        os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(recpath), exist_ok=True)
-        with open(recpath, "w") as f:
-            json.dump(json_value, f)
+        recdir = os.path.dirname(recpath)
+        os.makedirs(recdir, exist_ok=True)
+        # Write content to temporary file and rename it to the final file.
+        # This avoids race-conditions while writing (e.g. on NFS when the main job
+        # and the cluster node job propagate their content and the system has some
+        # latency including non-atomic propagation processes).
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(
+            mode="w",
+            dir=recdir,
+            delete=False,
+            suffix=os.path.basename(recpath),
+        ) as tmpfile:
+            json.dump(json_value, tmpfile)
+        os.rename(tmpfile.name, recpath)
 
     def _delete_record(self, subject, id):
         try:
@@ -462,7 +474,14 @@ def _read_record_uncached(self, subject, id):
         if not self._exists_record(subject, id):
             return dict()
         with open(self._record_path(subject, id), "r") as f:
-            return json.load(f)
+            try:
+                return json.load(f)
+            except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+                pass
+        # case: file is corrupted, delete it
+        logger.warning(f"Deleting corrupted metadata record.")
+        self._delete_record(subject, id)
+        return dict()
 
     def _exists_record(self, subject, id):
         return os.path.exists(self._record_path(subject, id))