diff --git a/src/shared/cgroup-util.c b/src/shared/cgroup-util.c
index dbf7942024..1306cc197a 100644
--- a/src/shared/cgroup-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/cgroup-util.c
@@ -1642,6 +1642,16 @@ int cg_slice_to_path(const char *unit, char **ret) {
         assert(unit);
         assert(ret);
 
+        if (streq(unit, "-.slice")) {
+                char *x;
+
+                x = strdup("");
+                if (!x)
+                        return -ENOMEM;
+                *ret = x;
+                return 0;
+        }
+
         if (!unit_name_is_valid(unit, TEMPLATE_INVALID))
                 return -EINVAL;
 
@@ -1657,8 +1667,10 @@ int cg_slice_to_path(const char *unit, char **ret) {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *escaped = NULL;
                 char n[dash - p + sizeof(".slice")];
 
-                strcpy(stpncpy(n, p, dash - p), ".slice");
+                if (isempty(dash + 1))
+                        return -EINVAL;
 
+                strcpy(stpncpy(n, p, dash - p), ".slice");
                 if (!unit_name_is_valid(n, TEMPLATE_INVALID))
                         return -EINVAL;
 
diff --git a/src/test/test-cgroup-util.c b/src/test/test-cgroup-util.c
index 79c11e297e..efe99cb34b 100644
--- a/src/test/test-cgroup-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-cgroup-util.c
@@ -268,9 +268,14 @@ static void test_slice_to_path(void) {
         test_slice_to_path_one("foobar.slice", "foobar.slice", 0);
         test_slice_to_path_one("foobar-waldo.slice", "foobar.slice/foobar-waldo.slice", 0);
         test_slice_to_path_one("foobar-waldo.service", NULL, -EINVAL);
-        test_slice_to_path_one("-.slice", NULL, -EINVAL);
+        test_slice_to_path_one("-.slice", "", 0);
+        test_slice_to_path_one("--.slice", NULL, -EINVAL);
+        test_slice_to_path_one("-", NULL, -EINVAL);
         test_slice_to_path_one("-foo-.slice", NULL, -EINVAL);
         test_slice_to_path_one("-foo.slice", NULL, -EINVAL);
+        test_slice_to_path_one("foo-.slice", NULL, -EINVAL);
+        test_slice_to_path_one("foo--bar.slice", "foo.slice/foo-.slice/foo--bar.slice", 0);
+        test_slice_to_path_one("foo.slice/foo--bar.slice", NULL, -EINVAL);
         test_slice_to_path_one("a-b.slice", "a.slice/a-b.slice", 0);
         test_slice_to_path_one("a-b-c-d-e.slice", "a.slice/a-b.slice/a-b-c.slice/a-b-c-d.slice/a-b-c-d-e.slice", 0);
 }