diff --git a/src/elf.c b/src/elf.c
index a1781724d..c158f628c 100644
--- a/src/elf.c
+++ b/src/elf.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 #include "elf.h"
 #include "io.h"
+#include "utils.h"
 
 #if defined(_WIN32)
 /* fallback to standard I/O text stream */
@@ -290,16 +291,20 @@ bool elf_load(elf_t *e, riscv_t *rv, memory_t *mem)
     return true;
 }
 
-bool elf_open(elf_t *e, const char *path)
+bool elf_open(elf_t *e, const char *_path)
 {
     /* free previous memory */
     if (e->raw_data)
         release(e);
 
+    char *path = sanitize_path(_path);
+
 #if defined(USE_MMAP)
     int fd = open(path, O_RDONLY);
-    if (fd < 0)
+    if (fd < 0) {
+        free(path);
         return false;
+    }
 
     /* get file size */
     struct stat st;
@@ -312,14 +317,17 @@ bool elf_open(elf_t *e, const char *path)
     e->raw_data = mmap(0, st.st_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, fd, 0);
     if (e->raw_data == MAP_FAILED) {
         release(e);
+        free(path);
         return false;
     }
     close(fd);
 
 #else  /* fallback to standard I/O text stream */
     FILE *f = fopen(path, "rb");
-    if (!f)
+    if (!f) {
+        free(path);
         return false;
+    }
 
     /* get file size */
     fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END);
@@ -327,6 +335,7 @@ bool elf_open(elf_t *e, const char *path)
     fseek(f, 0, SEEK_SET);
     if (e->raw_size == 0) {
         fclose(f);
+        free(path);
         return false;
     }
 
@@ -339,6 +348,7 @@ bool elf_open(elf_t *e, const char *path)
     fclose(f);
     if (r != e->raw_size) {
         release(e);
+        free(path);
         return false;
     }
 #endif /* USE_MMAP */
@@ -349,9 +359,11 @@ bool elf_open(elf_t *e, const char *path)
     /* check it is a valid ELF file */
     if (!is_valid(e)) {
         release(e);
+        free(path);
         return false;
     }
 
+    free(path);
     return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index b4384ac4c..c1018e5d9 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
  */
 
 #include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <time.h>
 
@@ -67,3 +69,98 @@ void rv_clock_gettime(struct timespec *tp)
     tp->tv_sec = tv_sec;
     tp->tv_nsec = tv_usec / 1000; /* Transfer to microseconds */
 }
+
+char *sanitize_path(const char *orig_path)
+{
+    size_t n = strlen(orig_path);
+
+    char *ret = (char *) malloc(n + 1);
+    memset(ret, '\0', n + 1);
+
+    /* After sanitization, the new path will only be shorter than the original
+     * one. Thus, we can reuse the space */
+    if (strlen(orig_path) == 0) {
+        ret[0] = '.';
+        return ret;
+    }
+
+    int rooted = (orig_path[0] == '/');
+
+    /*
+     * Invariants:
+     *	reading from path; r is index of next byte to process -> path[r]
+     *	writing to buf; w is index of next byte to write -> ret[strlen(ret)]
+     *	dotdot is index in buf where .. must stop, either because
+     *		a) it is the leading slash
+     *      b) it is a leading ../../.. prefix.
+     */
+    size_t w = 0;
+    size_t r = 0;
+    size_t dotdot = 0;
+    if (rooted) {
+        ret[w] = '/';
+        w++;
+        r = 1;
+        dotdot = 1;
+    }
+
+    while (r < n) {
+        if (orig_path[r] == '/') {
+            /*  empty path element */
+            r++;
+        } else if (orig_path[r] == '.' &&
+                   (r + 1 == n || orig_path[r + 1] == '/')) {
+            /* . element */
+            r++;
+        } else if (orig_path[r] == '.' && orig_path[r + 1] == '.' &&
+                   (r + 2 == n || orig_path[r + 2] == '/')) {
+            /* .. element: remove to last / */
+            r += 2;
+
+            if (w > dotdot) {
+                /* can backtrack */
+                w--;
+                while (w > dotdot && ret[w] != '/') {
+                    w--;
+                }
+            } else if (!rooted) {
+                /* cannot backtrack, but not rooted, so append .. element. */
+                if (w > 0) {
+                    ret[w] = '/';
+                    w++;
+                }
+                ret[w] = '.';
+                w++;
+                ret[w] = '.';
+                w++;
+                dotdot = w;
+            }
+        } else {
+            /* real path element.
+               add slash if needed */
+            if ((rooted && w != 1) || (!rooted && w != 0)) {
+                ret[w] = '/';
+                w++;
+            }
+
+            /* copy element */
+            for (; r < n && orig_path[r] != '/'; r++) {
+                ret[w] = orig_path[r];
+                w++;
+            }
+        }
+        // printf("w = %ld, r = %ld, dotdot = %ld\nret = %s\n", w, r, dotdot,
+        // ret);
+    }
+
+    /* Turn empty string into "." */
+    if (w == 0) {
+        ret[w] = '.';
+        w++;
+    }
+
+    for (size_t i = w; i < n; i++) {
+        ret[i] = '\0';
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 83d2a259c..fa11e66c1 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -21,3 +21,29 @@ void rv_clock_gettime(struct timespec *tp);
         /* 0x61C88647 is 32-bit golden ratio */                         \
         return (val * 0x61C88647 >> (32 - size_bits)) & ((size) - (1)); \
     }
+
+/*
+ * Reference:
+ * https://cs.opensource.google/go/go/+/refs/tags/go1.21.4:src/path/path.go;l=51
+ *
+ * sanitize_path returns the shortest path name equivalent to path
+ * by purely lexical processing. It applies the following rules
+ * iteratively until no further processing can be done:
+ *
+ *  1. Replace multiple slashes with a single slash.
+ *  2. Eliminate each . path name element (the current directory).
+ *  3. Eliminate each inner .. path name element (the parent directory)
+ *     along with the non-.. element that precedes it.
+ *  4. Eliminate .. elements that begin a rooted path:
+ *     that is, replace "/.." by "/" at the beginning of a path.
+ *
+ * The returned path ends in a slash only if it is the root "/".
+ *
+ * If the result of this process is an empty string, Clean
+ * returns the string ".".
+ *
+ * See also Rob Pike, “Lexical File Names in Plan 9 or
+ * Getting Dot-Dot Right,”
+ * https://9p.io/sys/doc/lexnames.html
+ */
+char *sanitize_path(const char *orig_path);