diff --git a/src/util/virfile.c b/src/util/virfile.c
index c528a1c01a..87d121db5e 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.c
+++ b/src/util/virfile.c
@@ -2812,12 +2812,18 @@ char *
 virFileSanitizePath(const char *path)
 {
     const char *cur = path;
+    char *uri;
     char *cleanpath;
     int idx = 0;
 
     if (VIR_STRDUP(cleanpath, path) < 0)
         return NULL;
 
+    /* don't sanitize URIs - rfc3986 states that two slashes may lead to a
+     * different resource, thus removing them would possibly change the path */
+    if ((uri = strstr(path, "://")) && strchr(path, '/') > uri)
+        return cleanpath;
+
     /* Need to sanitize:
      * //           -> //
      * ///          -> /
diff --git a/tests/virfiletest.c b/tests/virfiletest.c
index 826b2b9e50..628fa1fb0e 100644
--- a/tests/virfiletest.c
+++ b/tests/virfiletest.c
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ mymain(void)
             ret = -1;                                                          \
     } while (0)
 
+#define DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH_SAME(PATH) DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH(PATH, PATH)
+
     virtTestCounterReset("testFileSanitizePath ");
     DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH("", "");
     DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH("/", "/");
@@ -178,6 +180,11 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH("../../", "../..");
     DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH("//foo//bar", "//foo/bar");
     DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH("/bar//foo", "/bar/foo");
+    DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH_SAME("gluster://bar.baz/foo/hoo");
+    DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH_SAME("gluster://bar.baz//fooo/hoo");
+    DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH_SAME("gluster://bar.baz//////fooo/hoo");
+    DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH_SAME("gluster://bar.baz/fooo//hoo");
+    DO_TEST_SANITIZE_PATH_SAME("gluster://bar.baz/fooo///////hoo");
 
     return ret != 0 ? EXIT_FAILURE : EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }