diff --git a/src/mountfsd/mountwork.c b/src/mountfsd/mountwork.c
index fb1d8ebcb4..4f37bbd081 100644
--- a/src/mountfsd/mountwork.c
+++ b/src/mountfsd/mountwork.c
@@ -659,7 +659,7 @@ static DirectoryOwnership validate_directory_fd(int fd, uid_t peer_uid) {
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
-        fl = fd_verify_safe_flags_full(fd, O_DIRECTORY);
+        fl = fd_verify_safe_flags_full(fd, O_DIRECTORY|O_PATH);
         if (fl < 0)
                 return log_debug_errno(fl, "Directory file descriptor has unsafe flags set: %m");
 
diff --git a/src/shared/dissect-image.c b/src/shared/dissect-image.c
index 672c6a65cd..0bc750bafe 100644
--- a/src/shared/dissect-image.c
+++ b/src/shared/dissect-image.c
@@ -4750,7 +4750,7 @@ int mountfsd_mount_directory(
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to enable varlink fd passing for write: %m");
 
-        _cleanup_close_ int directory_fd = open(path, O_DIRECTORY|O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC);
+        _cleanup_close_ int directory_fd = open(path, O_DIRECTORY|O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC|O_PATH);
         if (directory_fd < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to open '%s': %m", path);