diff --git a/src/basic/escape.c b/src/basic/escape.c
index 2e605b2ebe..6734fba1f3 100644
--- a/src/basic/escape.c
+++ b/src/basic/escape.c
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 int cescape_char(char c, char *buf) {
         char *buf_old = buf;
 
+        /* Needs space for 4 characters in the buffer */
+
         switch (c) {
 
                 case '\a':
diff --git a/src/basic/missing.h b/src/basic/missing.h
index e714078f31..dbdbd6f260 100644
--- a/src/basic/missing.h
+++ b/src/basic/missing.h
@@ -1407,4 +1407,11 @@ struct statx {
 #define AT_STATX_DONT_SYNC 0x4000
 #endif
 
+/* The maximum thread/process name length including trailing NUL byte. This mimics the kernel definition of the same
+ * name, which we need in userspace at various places but is not defined in userspace currently, neither under this
+ * name nor any other. */
+#ifndef TASK_COMM_LEN
+#define TASK_COMM_LEN 16
+#endif
+
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/process-util.c b/src/basic/process-util.c
index 65abaaf888..e3be7b9793 100644
--- a/src/basic/process-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/process-util.c
@@ -76,20 +76,31 @@ int get_process_state(pid_t pid) {
         return (unsigned char) state;
 }
 
-int get_process_comm(pid_t pid, char **name) {
+int get_process_comm(pid_t pid, char **ret) {
+        _cleanup_free_ char *escaped = NULL, *comm = NULL;
         const char *p;
         int r;
 
-        assert(name);
+        assert(ret);
         assert(pid >= 0);
 
+        escaped = new(char, TASK_COMM_LEN);
+        if (!escaped)
+                return -ENOMEM;
+
         p = procfs_file_alloca(pid, "comm");
 
-        r = read_one_line_file(p, name);
+        r = read_one_line_file(p, &comm);
         if (r == -ENOENT)
                 return -ESRCH;
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
 
-        return r;
+        /* Escape unprintable characters, just in case, but don't grow the string beyond the underlying size */
+        cellescape(escaped, TASK_COMM_LEN, comm);
+
+        *ret = TAKE_PTR(escaped);
+        return 0;
 }
 
 int get_process_cmdline(pid_t pid, size_t max_length, bool comm_fallback, char **line) {
@@ -296,7 +307,7 @@ int rename_process(const char name[]) {
          * can use PR_SET_NAME, which sets the thread name for the calling thread. */
         if (prctl(PR_SET_NAME, name) < 0)
                 log_debug_errno(errno, "PR_SET_NAME failed: %m");
-        if (l > 15) /* Linux process names can be 15 chars at max */
+        if (l >= TASK_COMM_LEN) /* Linux process names can be 15 chars at max */
                 truncated = true;
 
         /* Second step, change glibc's ID of the process name. */
@@ -740,14 +751,17 @@ int wait_for_terminate_and_check(const char *name, pid_t pid, WaitFlags flags) {
 
 /*
  * Return values:
- * < 0 : wait_for_terminate_with_timeout() failed to get the state of the
- *       process, the process timed out, the process was terminated by a
- *       signal, or failed for an unknown reason.
+ *
+ * < 0 : wait_for_terminate_with_timeout() failed to get the state of the process, the process timed out, the process
+ *       was terminated by a signal, or failed for an unknown reason.
+ *
  * >=0 : The process terminated normally with no failures.
  *
- * Success is indicated by a return value of zero, a timeout is indicated
- * by ETIMEDOUT, and all other child failure states are indicated by error
- * is indicated by a non-zero value.
+ * Success is indicated by a return value of zero, a timeout is indicated by ETIMEDOUT, and all other child failure
+ * states are indicated by error is indicated by a non-zero value.
+ *
+ * This call assumes SIGCHLD has been blocked already, in particular before the child to wait for has been forked off
+ * to remain entirely race-free.
  */
 int wait_for_terminate_with_timeout(pid_t pid, usec_t timeout) {
         sigset_t mask;
diff --git a/src/basic/string-util.c b/src/basic/string-util.c
index b06b50397e..4c7ab3c4d3 100644
--- a/src/basic/string-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/string-util.c
@@ -627,25 +627,58 @@ char *cellescape(char *buf, size_t len, const char *s) {
          * very end.
          */
 
-        size_t i;
-        const char *t = s;
+        size_t i = 0, last_char_width[4] = {}, k = 0, j;
 
-        assert(len > 4 + 4 + 1); /* two chars and the terminator */
+        assert(len > 0); /* at least a terminating NUL */
 
-        for (i = 0; i < len - 9; t++) {
-                if (!*t)
+        for (;;) {
+                char four[4];
+                int w;
+
+                if (*s == 0) /* terminating NUL detected? then we are done! */
                         goto done;
-                i += cescape_char(*t, buf + i);
+
+                w = cescape_char(*s, four);
+                if (i + w + 1 > len) /* This character doesn't fit into the buffer anymore? In that case let's
+                                      * ellipsize at the previous location */
+                        break;
+
+                /* OK, there was space, let's add this escaped character to the buffer */
+                memcpy(buf + i, four, w);
+                i += w;
+
+                /* And remember its width in the ring buffer */
+                last_char_width[k] = w;
+                k = (k + 1) % 4;
+
+                s++;
         }
 
-        /* We have space for one more char and terminating nul at this point */
-        if (*t) {
-                if (*(t+1))
-                        i += write_ellipsis(buf + i, false);
-                else
-                        i += cescape_char(*t, buf + i);
+        /* Ellipsation is necessary. This means we might need to truncate the string again to make space for 4
+         * characters ideally, but the buffer is shorter than that in the first place take what we can get */
+        for (j = 0; j < ELEMENTSOF(last_char_width); j++) {
+
+                if (i + 4 <= len) /* nice, we reached our space goal */
+                        break;
+
+                k = k == 0 ? 3 : k - 1;
+                if (last_char_width[k] == 0) /* bummer, we reached the beginning of the strings */
+                        break;
+
+                assert(i >= last_char_width[k]);
+                i -= last_char_width[k];
         }
 
+        if (i + 4 <= len) /* yay, enough space */
+                i += write_ellipsis(buf + i, false);
+        else if (i + 3 <= len) { /* only space for ".." */
+                buf[i++] = '.';
+                buf[i++] = '.';
+        } else if (i + 2 <= len) /* only space for a single "." */
+                buf[i++] = '.';
+        else
+                assert(i + 1 <= len);
+
  done:
         buf[i] = '\0';
         return buf;
diff --git a/src/test/test-process-util.c b/src/test/test-process-util.c
index fd5b44dc13..ef18cff70d 100644
--- a/src/test/test-process-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-process-util.c
@@ -91,6 +91,38 @@ static void test_get_process_comm(pid_t pid) {
         log_info("PID"PID_FMT" $PATH: '%s'", pid, strna(i));
 }
 
+static void test_get_process_comm_escape_one(const char *input, const char *output) {
+        _cleanup_free_ char *n = NULL;
+
+        log_info("input: <%s> — output: <%s>", input, output);
+
+        assert_se(prctl(PR_SET_NAME, input) >= 0);
+        assert_se(get_process_comm(0, &n) >= 0);
+
+        log_info("got: <%s>", n);
+
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(n, output));
+}
+
+static void test_get_process_comm_escape(void) {
+        _cleanup_free_ char *saved = NULL;
+
+        assert_se(get_process_comm(0, &saved) >= 0);
+
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("", "");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("foo", "foo");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("012345678901234", "012345678901234");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("0123456789012345", "012345678901234");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("äöüß", "\\303\\244\\303…");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("xäöüß", "x\\303\\244…");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("xxäöüß", "xx\\303\\244…");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("xxxäöüß", "xxx\\303\\244…");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("xxxxäöüß", "xxxx\\303\\244…");
+        test_get_process_comm_escape_one("xxxxxäöüß", "xxxxx\\303…");
+
+        assert_se(prctl(PR_SET_NAME, saved) >= 0);
+}
+
 static void test_pid_is_unwaited(void) {
         pid_t pid;
 
@@ -366,7 +398,7 @@ static void test_rename_process_now(const char *p, int ret) {
 
         assert_se(get_process_comm(0, &comm) >= 0);
         log_info("comm = <%s>", comm);
-        assert_se(strneq(comm, p, 15));
+        assert_se(strneq(comm, p, TASK_COMM_LEN-1));
 
         assert_se(get_process_cmdline(0, 0, false, &cmdline) >= 0);
         /* we cannot expect cmdline to be renamed properly without privileges */
@@ -572,6 +604,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                 test_get_process_comm(getpid());
         }
 
+        test_get_process_comm_escape();
         test_pid_is_unwaited();
         test_pid_is_alive();
         test_personality();
diff --git a/src/test/test-string-util.c b/src/test/test-string-util.c
index 413adfda7d..8b176781de 100644
--- a/src/test/test-string-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-string-util.c
@@ -81,21 +81,79 @@ static void test_ascii_strcasecmp_nn(void) {
 static void test_cellescape(void) {
         char buf[40];
 
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "1"), "1"));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "12"), "12"));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "123"), is_locale_utf8() ? "1…" : "1..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 1, ""), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 1, "1"), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 1, "12"), ""));
 
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "1\011"), "1\\t"));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "1\020"), "1\\020"));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "1\020x"), is_locale_utf8() ? "1…" : "1..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 2, ""), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 2, "1"), "1"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 2, "12"), "."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 2, "123"), "."));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, ""), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, "1"), "1"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, "12"), "12"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, "123"), ".."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, "1234"), ".."));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, ""), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "1"), "1"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "12"), "12"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "123"), "123"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "1234"), is_locale_utf8() ? "…" : "..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "12345"), is_locale_utf8() ? "…" : "..."));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, ""), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "1"), "1"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "12"), "12"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "123"), "123"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "1234"), "1234"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "12345"), is_locale_utf8() ? "1…" : "1..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "123456"), is_locale_utf8() ? "1…" : "1..."));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 1, "\020"), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 2, "\020"), "."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, "\020"), ".."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "\020"), "…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "\020"), "\\020"));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "1234\020"), "1…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "1234\020"), "12…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 7, "1234\020"), "123…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 8, "1234\020"), "1234…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 9, "1234\020"), "1234\\020"));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 1, "\t\n"), ""));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 2, "\t\n"), "."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 3, "\t\n"), ".."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "\t\n"), "…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "\t\n"), "\\t\\n"));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "1234\t\n"), "1…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "1234\t\n"), "12…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 7, "1234\t\n"), "123…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 8, "1234\t\n"), "1234…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 9, "1234\t\n"), "1234\\t\\n"));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 4, "x\t\020\n"), "…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 5, "x\t\020\n"), "x…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "x\t\020\n"), "x…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 7, "x\t\020\n"), "x\\t…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 8, "x\t\020\n"), "x\\t…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 9, "x\t\020\n"), "x\\t…"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "x\t\020\n"), "x\\t\\020\\n"));
+
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "1\011"), "1\\t"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "1\020"), "1\\020"));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "1\020x"), is_locale_utf8() ? "1…" : "1..."));
 
         assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 40, "1\020"), "1\\020"));
         assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 40, "1\020x"), "1\\020x"));
 
         assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 40, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), "\\a\\b\\f\\n\\r\\t\\v\\\\\\\"\\'"));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 10, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), is_locale_utf8() ? "\\a…" : "\\a..."));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 11, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), is_locale_utf8() ? "\\a…" : "\\a..."));
-        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 12, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), is_locale_utf8() ? "\\a\\b…" : "\\a\\b..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 6, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), is_locale_utf8() ? "\\a…" : "\\a..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 7, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), is_locale_utf8() ? "\\a…" : "\\a..."));
+        assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, 8, "\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\\"'"), is_locale_utf8() ? "\\a\\b…" : "\\a\\b..."));
 
         assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, sizeof buf, "1\020"), "1\\020"));
         assert_se(streq(cellescape(buf, sizeof buf, "1\020x"), "1\\020x"));