diff --git a/src/shared/conf-parser.c b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
index 29dd1ddc88..4a41b814ae 100644
--- a/src/shared/conf-parser.c
+++ b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
@@ -716,10 +716,8 @@ int config_parse_path(
         assert(rvalue);
         assert(data);
 
-        if (isempty(rvalue)) {
-                n = NULL;
+        if (isempty(rvalue))
                 goto finalize;
-        }
 
         n = strdup(rvalue);
         if (!n)
@@ -730,9 +728,7 @@ int config_parse_path(
                 return fatal ? -ENOEXEC : 0;
 
 finalize:
-        free_and_replace(*s, n);
-
-        return 0;
+        return free_and_replace(*s, n);
 }
 
 int config_parse_strv(