diff --git a/browser/download/download_target_determiner.cc b/browser/download/download_target_determiner.cc
index 97fa792681feef05aa9efe283b6504484ec6f215..036a23f57372257a3967f9dbb8cd158e9f971a1d 100644
--- a/browser/download/download_target_determiner.cc
+++ b/browser/download/download_target_determiner.cc
@@ -551,6 +551,11 @@ DownloadTargetDeterminer::DoRequestConfirmation() {
       // file name first.
       std::wstring sanitized_name = ui::RemoveEnvVarFromFileName<wchar_t>(
           virtual_path_.BaseName().value(), L"%");
+      // remove leading "." to avoid resorting to potential extension
+      // bug: 41486690
+      while (!sanitized_name.empty() && sanitized_name.back() == L'.') {
+          sanitized_name.pop_back();
+      }
       if (sanitized_name.empty()) {
         sanitized_name = base::UTF8ToWide(
             l10n_util::GetStringUTF8(IDS_DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_FILENAME));
diff --git a/browser/download/download_target_determiner_unittest.cc b/browser/download/download_target_determiner_unittest.cc
index 3e2ebd5ff75dad0b46d465d5ddb02abc4b89069e..9c29f6e393064f6ac0647f1bba1dae314e17df98 100644
--- a/browser/download/download_target_determiner_unittest.cc
+++ b/browser/download/download_target_determiner_unittest.cc
@@ -2481,7 +2481,16 @@ TEST_F(DownloadTargetDeterminerTest, TestSanitizeEnvVariable) {
        DownloadItem::TARGET_DISPOSITION_PROMPT,
 
        EXPECT_CRDOWNLOAD},
-      {// 2: File name is an env var.
+      {// 2: File name falling back to dangerous extensions after removing env var.
+       SAVE_AS, download::DOWNLOAD_DANGER_TYPE_NOT_DANGEROUS,
+       DownloadFileType::NOT_DANGEROUS, "http://example.com/foo2.lnk.%%",
+       "application/octet-stream", FILE_PATH_LITERAL(""),
+
+       FILE_PATH_LITERAL("foo2.download"),
+       DownloadItem::TARGET_DISPOSITION_PROMPT,
+
+       EXPECT_CRDOWNLOAD},
+      {// 3: File name is an env var.
        SAVE_AS, download::DOWNLOAD_DANGER_TYPE_NOT_DANGEROUS,
        DownloadFileType::NOT_DANGEROUS, "http://example.com/%foo.txt%",
        "text/plain", FILE_PATH_LITERAL(""),