diff --git a/src/shared/util.c b/src/shared/util.c
index 8a6107969ae..311acbb3499 100644
--- a/src/shared/util.c
+++ b/src/shared/util.c
@@ -1152,7 +1152,7 @@ static int cunescape_one(const char *p, size_t length, char *ret, uint32_t *ret_
                 int a, b, c;
                 uint32_t m;
 
-                if (length != (size_t) -1 && length < 4)
+                if (length != (size_t) -1 && length < 3)
                         return -EINVAL;
 
                 a = unoctchar(p[0]);
diff --git a/src/test/test-util.c b/src/test/test-util.c
index e0269821d79..7a398fafbe4 100644
--- a/src/test/test-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-util.c
@@ -460,6 +460,9 @@ static void test_cunescape(void) {
         assert_se(cunescape("\\u0000", 0, &unescaped) < 0);
         assert_se(cunescape("\\u00DF\\U000000df\\u03a0\\U00000041", UNESCAPE_RELAX, &unescaped) >= 0);
         assert_se(streq_ptr(unescaped, "ßßΠA"));
+
+        assert_se(cunescape("\\073", 0, &unescaped) >= 0);
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(unescaped, ";"));
 }
 
 static void test_foreach_word(void) {