diff --git a/src/basic/fs-util.c b/src/basic/fs-util.c
index f0df79d8ff..cb56e03d15 100644
--- a/src/basic/fs-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/fs-util.c
@@ -673,8 +673,14 @@ int chase_symlinks(const char *path, const char *original_root, unsigned flags,
                 if (r < 0)
                         return r;
 
-                if (flags & CHASE_PREFIX_ROOT)
+                if (flags & CHASE_PREFIX_ROOT) {
+
+                        /* We don't support relative paths in combination with a root directory */
+                        if (!path_is_absolute(path))
+                                return -EINVAL;
+
                         path = prefix_roota(root, path);
+                }
         }
 
         r = path_make_absolute_cwd(path, &buffer);