diff --git a/src/lightning/pytorch/CHANGELOG.md b/src/lightning/pytorch/CHANGELOG.md
index ddc12a92e9f56..a3f147aafb39f 100644
--- a/src/lightning/pytorch/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/lightning/pytorch/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 
 ### Changed
 
-- Default to `RichProgressBar` and `RichModelSummary` if the rich package is available. Fallback to TQDMProgressBar and ModelSummary otherwise. ([#9580](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/pytorch-lightning/pull/9580))
+- Default to `RichProgressBar` and `RichModelSummary` if the rich package is available. Fallback to TQDMProgressBar and ModelSummary otherwise ([#20896](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/pytorch-lightning/pull/20896))
+
+
+- Fixed preventing recursive symlink creation iwhen `save_last='link'` and `save_top_k=-1` ([#21186](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/pytorch-lightning/pull/21186))
 
 
 ### Removed
diff --git a/src/lightning/pytorch/callbacks/model_checkpoint.py b/src/lightning/pytorch/callbacks/model_checkpoint.py
index dfc0cebb8d07d..415e1dcac309b 100644
--- a/src/lightning/pytorch/callbacks/model_checkpoint.py
+++ b/src/lightning/pytorch/callbacks/model_checkpoint.py
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ def _save_checkpoint(self, trainer: "pl.Trainer", filepath: str) -> None:
 
     @staticmethod
     def _link_checkpoint(trainer: "pl.Trainer", filepath: str, linkpath: str) -> None:
-        if trainer.is_global_zero:
+        if trainer.is_global_zero and os.path.abspath(filepath) != os.path.abspath(linkpath):
             if os.path.islink(linkpath) or os.path.isfile(linkpath):
                 os.remove(linkpath)
             elif os.path.isdir(linkpath):
diff --git a/tests/tests_pytorch/callbacks/test_model_checkpoint_additional_cases.py b/tests/tests_pytorch/callbacks/test_model_checkpoint_additional_cases.py
index fba9e865debfd..1b56453220edd 100644
--- a/tests/tests_pytorch/callbacks/test_model_checkpoint_additional_cases.py
+++ b/tests/tests_pytorch/callbacks/test_model_checkpoint_additional_cases.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import math
+import os
 from datetime import timedelta
 
 import pytest
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@
 
 from lightning.pytorch import LightningModule, Trainer, seed_everything
 from lightning.pytorch.callbacks import ModelCheckpoint
+from lightning.pytorch.demos.boring_classes import BoringModel
 
 
 class TinyDataset(Dataset):
@@ -206,3 +208,24 @@ def test_model_checkpoint_defer_until_next_validation_when_val_every_2_epochs(tm
     expected = max(val_scores)  # last/maximum value occurs at final validation epoch
     actual = float(ckpt.best_model_score)
     assert math.isclose(actual, expected, rel_tol=0, abs_tol=1e-6)
+
+
+def test_model_checkpoint_save_last_link_symlink_bug(tmp_path):
+    """Reproduce the bug where save_last='link' and save_top_k=-1 creates a recursive symlink."""
+    trainer = Trainer(
+        default_root_dir=tmp_path,
+        max_epochs=2,
+        callbacks=[ModelCheckpoint(dirpath=tmp_path, every_n_epochs=10, save_last="link", save_top_k=-1)],
+        enable_checkpointing=True,
+        enable_model_summary=False,
+        logger=False,
+    )
+
+    model = BoringModel()
+    trainer.fit(model)
+
+    last_ckpt = tmp_path / "last.ckpt"
+    assert last_ckpt.exists()
+    # With the fix, if a symlink exists, it should not point to itself (preventing recursion)
+    if os.path.islink(str(last_ckpt)):
+        assert os.readlink(str(last_ckpt)) != str(last_ckpt)