diff --git a/src/shared/dns-domain.c b/src/shared/dns-domain.c
index bdef67dc4f..8c807e0e23 100644
--- a/src/shared/dns-domain.c
+++ b/src/shared/dns-domain.c
@@ -693,23 +693,26 @@ int dns_name_change_suffix(const char *name, const char *old_suffix, const char
 }
 
 int dns_name_between(const char *a, const char *b, const char *c) {
-        int n;
-
         /* Determine if b is strictly greater than a and strictly smaller than c.
            We consider the order of names to be circular, so that if a is
            strictly greater than c, we consider b to be between them if it is
            either greater than a or smaller than c. This is how the canonical
            DNS name order used in NSEC records work. */
 
-        n = dns_name_compare_func(a, c);
-        if (n == 0)
-                return -EINVAL;
-        else if (n < 0)
-                /*       a<---b--->c       */
+        if (dns_name_compare_func(a, c) < 0)
+                /*
+                   a and c are properly ordered:
+                   a<---b--->c
+                */
                 return dns_name_compare_func(a, b) < 0 &&
                        dns_name_compare_func(b, c) < 0;
         else
-                /* <--b--c         a--b--> */
+                /*
+                   a and c are equal or 'reversed':
+                   <--b--c         a----->
+                   or:
+                   <-----c         a--b-->
+                */
                 return dns_name_compare_func(b, c) < 0 ||
                        dns_name_compare_func(a, b) < 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/test/test-dns-domain.c b/src/test/test-dns-domain.c
index 3105c14ee6..0ad7d088aa 100644
--- a/src/test/test-dns-domain.c
+++ b/src/test/test-dns-domain.c
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ static void test_dns_name_between_one(const char *a, const char *b, const char *
 
         r = dns_name_between(c, b, a);
         if (ret >= 0)
-                assert_se(r == 0);
+                assert_se(r == 0 || dns_name_equal(a, c) > 0);
         else
                 assert_se(r == ret);
 }
@@ -249,7 +249,8 @@ static void test_dns_name_between(void) {
         test_dns_name_between_one("*.z.example", "\\200.z.example", "example", true);
         test_dns_name_between_one("\\200.z.example", "example", "a.example", true);
 
-        test_dns_name_between_one("example", "a.example", "example", -EINVAL);
+        test_dns_name_between_one("example", "a.example", "example", true);
+        test_dns_name_between_one("example", "example", "example", false);
         test_dns_name_between_one("example", "example", "yljkjljk.a.example", false);
         test_dns_name_between_one("example", "yljkjljk.a.example", "yljkjljk.a.example", false);
 }