diff --git a/src/lxc/criu.c b/src/lxc/criu.c
index b1ab5d46e..245b06984 100644
--- a/src/lxc/criu.c
+++ b/src/lxc/criu.c
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ static void exec_criu(struct criu_opts *opts)
 
 	for (i = 0; i < cgroup_num_hierarchies(); i++) {
 		char **controllers = NULL, *fullname;
-		char *path;
+		char *path, *tmp;
 
 		if (!cgroup_get_hierarchies(i, &controllers)) {
 			ERROR("failed to get hierarchy %d", i);
@@ -296,11 +296,15 @@ static void exec_criu(struct criu_opts *opts)
 			}
 		}
 
-		if (!lxc_deslashify(&path)) {
-			ERROR("failed to deslashify %s", path);
+		tmp = lxc_deslashify(path);
+		if (!tmp) {
+			ERROR("Failed to remove extraneous slashes from \"%s\"",
+			      path);
 			free(path);
 			goto err;
 		}
+		free(path);
+		path = tmp;
 
 		fullname = lxc_string_join(",", (const char **) controllers, false);
 		if (!fullname) {
diff --git a/src/lxc/utils.c b/src/lxc/utils.c
index d3b0fdc5d..d36107020 100644
--- a/src/lxc/utils.c
+++ b/src/lxc/utils.c
@@ -729,47 +729,46 @@ char **lxc_normalize_path(const char *path)
 	return components;
 }
 
-bool lxc_deslashify(char **path)
+char *lxc_deslashify(const char *path)
 {
-	bool ret = false;
-	char *p;
+	char *dup, *p;
 	char **parts = NULL;
 	size_t n, len;
 
-	parts = lxc_normalize_path(*path);
-	if (!parts)
-		return false;
+	dup = strdup(path);
+	if (!dup)
+		return NULL;
+
+	parts = lxc_normalize_path(dup);
+	if (!parts) {
+		free(dup);
+		return NULL;
+	}
 
 	/* We'll end up here if path == "///" or path == "". */
 	if (!*parts) {
-		len = strlen(*path);
+		len = strlen(dup);
 		if (!len) {
-			ret = true;
-			goto out;
+			lxc_free_array((void **)parts, free);
+			return dup;
 		}
-		n = strcspn(*path, "/");
+		n = strcspn(dup, "/");
 		if (n == len) {
+			free(dup);
+			lxc_free_array((void **)parts, free);
+
 			p = strdup("/");
 			if (!p)
-				goto out;
-			free(*path);
-			*path = p;
-			ret = true;
-			goto out;
+				return NULL;
+
+			return p;
 		}
 	}
 
-	p = lxc_string_join("/", (const char **)parts, **path == '/');
-	if (!p)
-		goto out;
-
-	free(*path);
-	*path = p;
-	ret = true;
-
-out:
+	p = lxc_string_join("/", (const char **)parts, *dup == '/');
+	free(dup);
 	lxc_free_array((void **)parts, free);
-	return ret;
+	return p;
 }
 
 char *lxc_append_paths(const char *first, const char *second)
diff --git a/src/lxc/utils.h b/src/lxc/utils.h
index fc0e5c01c..4408c6d69 100644
--- a/src/lxc/utils.h
+++ b/src/lxc/utils.h
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ extern char *lxc_string_join(const char *sep, const char **parts, bool use_as_pr
  */
 extern char **lxc_normalize_path(const char *path);
 /* remove multiple slashes from the path, e.g. ///foo//bar -> /foo/bar */
-extern bool lxc_deslashify(char **path);
+extern char *lxc_deslashify(const char *path);
 extern char *lxc_append_paths(const char *first, const char *second);
 /* Note: the following two functions use strtok(), so they will never
  *       consider an empty element, even if two delimiters are next to
diff --git a/src/tests/lxc-test-utils.c b/src/tests/lxc-test-utils.c
index 01d8cd6eb..aba7706ab 100644
--- a/src/tests/lxc-test-utils.c
+++ b/src/tests/lxc-test-utils.c
@@ -41,33 +41,37 @@
 
 void test_lxc_deslashify(void)
 {
-	char *s = strdup("/A///B//C/D/E/");
-	if (!s)
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(lxc_deslashify(&s));
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(s, "/A/B/C/D/E") == 0);
-	free(s);
+	char *s = "/A///B//C/D/E/";
+	char *t;
 
-	s = strdup("/A");
-	if (!s)
+	t = lxc_deslashify(s);
+	if (!t)
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(lxc_deslashify(&s));
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(s, "/A") == 0);
-	free(s);
+	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(t, "/A/B/C/D/E") == 0);
+	free(t);
 
-	s = strdup("");
-	if (!s)
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(lxc_deslashify(&s));
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(s, "") == 0);
-	free(s);
+	s = "/A";
 
-	s = strdup("//");
-	if (!s)
+	t = lxc_deslashify(s);
+	if (!t)
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(lxc_deslashify(&s));
-	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(s, "/") == 0);
-	free(s);
+	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(t, "/A") == 0);
+	free(t);
+
+	s = "";
+	t = lxc_deslashify(s);
+	if (!t)
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(t, "") == 0);
+	free(t);
+
+	s = "//";
+
+	t = lxc_deslashify(s);
+	if (!t)
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	lxc_test_assert_abort(strcmp(t, "/") == 0);
+	free(t);
 }
 
 /* /proc/int_as_str/ns/mnt\0 = (5 + 21 + 7 + 1) */