diff --git a/src/core/mount.c b/src/core/mount.c
index 801d2195b3..edbf7d201c 100644
--- a/src/core/mount.c
+++ b/src/core/mount.c
@@ -2415,7 +2415,6 @@ char* mount_get_where_escaped(const Mount *m) {
 }
 
 char* mount_get_what_escaped(const Mount *m) {
-        _cleanup_free_ char *escaped = NULL;
         const char *s = NULL;
 
         assert(m);
@@ -2424,14 +2423,10 @@ char* mount_get_what_escaped(const Mount *m) {
                 s = m->parameters_proc_self_mountinfo.what;
         else if (m->from_fragment && m->parameters_fragment.what)
                 s = m->parameters_fragment.what;
+        if (!s)
+                return strdup("");
 
-        if (s) {
-                escaped = utf8_escape_invalid(s);
-                if (!escaped)
-                        return NULL;
-        }
-
-        return escaped ? TAKE_PTR(escaped) : strdup("");
+        return utf8_escape_invalid(s);
 }
 
 char* mount_get_options_escaped(const Mount *m) {