diff --git a/src/journal/journald-syslog.c b/src/journal/journald-syslog.c
index 90b75309463..ffba451955f 100644
--- a/src/journal/journald-syslog.c
+++ b/src/journal/journald-syslog.c
@@ -234,7 +234,8 @@ size_t syslog_parse_identifier(const char **buf, char **identifier, char **pid)
         if (t)
                 *identifier = t;
 
-        e += strspn(p + e, WHITESPACE);
+        if (strchr(WHITESPACE, p[e]))
+                e++;
         *buf = p + e;
         return e;
 }