diff --git a/src/basic/cgroup-util.c b/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
index 8299f6ffd5..3ef96b238e 100644
--- a/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
@@ -899,7 +899,7 @@ int cg_install_release_agent(const char *controller, const char *agent) {
                 r = write_string_file(fs, agent, 0);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return r;
-        } else if (!streq(sc, agent))
+        } else if (!path_equal(sc, agent))
                 return -EEXIST;
 
         fs = mfree(fs);