diff --git a/src/shared/conf-parser.c b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
index e08402e3d2..81c2cb14e7 100644
--- a/src/shared/conf-parser.c
+++ b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
@@ -725,6 +725,11 @@ int config_parse_path(
         assert(rvalue);
         assert(data);
 
+        if (isempty(rvalue)) {
+                n = NULL;
+                goto finalize;
+        }
+
         if (!utf8_is_valid(rvalue)) {
                 log_syntax_invalid_utf8(unit, LOG_ERR, filename, line, rvalue);
                 return fatal ? -ENOEXEC : 0;
@@ -743,6 +748,7 @@ int config_parse_path(
 
         path_kill_slashes(n);
 
+finalize:
         free(*s);
         *s = n;