diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 501e37339b8..7c207bed6e7 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -1968,7 +1968,6 @@ int manager_load_unit_prepare(
         int r;
 
         assert(m);
-        assert(name || path);
         assert(_ret);
 
         /* This will prepare the unit for loading, but not actually
@@ -1977,8 +1976,13 @@ int manager_load_unit_prepare(
         if (path && !is_path(path))
                 return sd_bus_error_setf(e, SD_BUS_ERROR_INVALID_ARGS, "Path %s is not absolute.", path);
 
-        if (!name)
+        if (!name) {
+                /* 'name' and 'path' must not both be null. Check here 'path' using assert_se() to
+                 * workaround a bug in gcc that generates a -Wnonnull warning when calling basename(),
+                 * but this cannot be possible in any code path (See #6119). */
+                assert_se(path);
                 name = basename(path);
+        }
 
         t = unit_name_to_type(name);
 
diff --git a/src/shared/install.c b/src/shared/install.c
index ec2b99ab98d..21ad5aab36a 100644
--- a/src/shared/install.c
+++ b/src/shared/install.c
@@ -1013,10 +1013,14 @@ static int install_info_add(
         int r;
 
         assert(c);
-        assert(name || path);
 
-        if (!name)
+        if (!name) {
+                /* 'name' and 'path' must not both be null. Check here 'path' using assert_se() to
+                 * workaround a bug in gcc that generates a -Wnonnull warning when calling basename(),
+                 * but this cannot be possible in any code path (See #6119). */
+                assert_se(path);
                 name = basename(path);
+        }
 
         if (!unit_name_is_valid(name, UNIT_NAME_ANY))
                 return -EINVAL;