diff --git a/src/basic/path-util.c b/src/basic/path-util.c
index 059e4fcf6a..3bde1d1e01 100644
--- a/src/basic/path-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/path-util.c
@@ -719,6 +719,9 @@ const char *last_path_component(const char *path) {
         unsigned l, k;
 
         l = k = strlen(path);
+        if (l == 0) /* special case — an empty string */
+                return path;
+
         while (k > 0 && path[k-1] == '/')
                 k--;
 
diff --git a/src/test/test-path-util.c b/src/test/test-path-util.c
index 21d52f5d6e..0db835608a 100644
--- a/src/test/test-path-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-path-util.c
@@ -411,6 +411,7 @@ static void test_last_path_component(void) {
         assert_se(streq(last_path_component("././/"), ".//"));
         assert_se(streq(last_path_component("/foo/a"), "a"));
         assert_se(streq(last_path_component("/foo/a/"), "a/"));
+        assert_se(streq(last_path_component(""), ""));
 }
 
 static void test_filename_is_valid(void) {