diff --git a/device_mapper/libdm-config.c b/device_mapper/libdm-config.c
index d2ac43c85..7ce5620c6 100644
--- a/device_mapper/libdm-config.c
+++ b/device_mapper/libdm-config.c
@@ -983,7 +983,7 @@ static const char *_find_config_str(const void *start, node_lookup_fn find_fn,
 	}
 
 	if (fail)
-		log_very_verbose("%s not found in config: defaulting to %s",
+		log_very_verbose("%s not found in config: defaulting to \"%s\"",
 				 path, fail);
 	return fail;
 }