diff --git a/src/core/load-dropin.c b/src/core/load-dropin.c
index 1c65055a3f4..f83fa093015 100644
--- a/src/core/load-dropin.c
+++ b/src/core/load-dropin.c
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ static int add_dependency_consumer(
 }
 
 int unit_load_dropin(Unit *u) {
+        _cleanup_strv_free_ char **l = NULL;
         Iterator i;
         char *t, **f;
         int r;
@@ -63,11 +64,19 @@ int unit_load_dropin(Unit *u) {
                 }
         }
 
-        u->dropin_paths = strv_free(u->dropin_paths);
-        r = unit_find_dropin_paths(u, &u->dropin_paths);
+        r = unit_find_dropin_paths(u, &l);
         if (r <= 0)
                 return 0;
 
+        if (!u->dropin_paths) {
+                u->dropin_paths = l;
+                l = NULL;
+        } else {
+                r = strv_extend_strv(&u->dropin_paths, l, true);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return log_oom();
+        }
+
         STRV_FOREACH(f, u->dropin_paths) {
                 config_parse(u->id, *f, NULL,
                              UNIT_VTABLE(u)->sections,