diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html.in b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
index b63467bd915a3e4a6907c880aeb055d320aecf0f..5887939bd0a4a9f4a696832f943622bc59980205 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
@@ -8094,7 +8094,9 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
     <dt><code>shmem</code></dt>
     <dd>
       The <code>shmem</code> element has one mandatory attribute,
-      <code>name</code> to identify the shared memory.
+      <code>name</code> to identify the shared memory. This attribute cannot
+      be directory specific to <code>.</code> or <code>..</code> as well as
+      it cannot involve path separator <code>/</code>.
     </dd>
     <dt><code>model</code></dt>
     <dd>
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 7dcbe8a20bccc2361b46e4a2019f97086f17b838..adcd8f41b95f40dd24b4c779de29871a77563154 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -5747,6 +5747,31 @@ virDomainInputDefValidate(const virDomainInputDef *input)
 }
 
 
+static int
+virDomainShmemDefValidate(const virDomainShmemDef *shmem)
+{
+    if (strchr(shmem->name, '/')) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("shmem name cannot include '/' character"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (STREQ(shmem->name, ".")) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("shmem name cannot be equal to '.'"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (STREQ(shmem->name, "..")) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("shmem name cannot be equal to '..'"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 static int
 virDomainDeviceDefValidateInternal(const virDomainDeviceDef *dev,
                                    const virDomainDef *def)
@@ -5788,6 +5813,9 @@ virDomainDeviceDefValidateInternal(const virDomainDeviceDef *dev,
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_INPUT:
         return virDomainInputDefValidate(dev->data.input);
 
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SHMEM:
+        return virDomainShmemDefValidate(dev->data.shmem);
+
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_LEASE:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_FS:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SOUND:
@@ -5796,7 +5824,6 @@ virDomainDeviceDefValidateInternal(const virDomainDeviceDef *dev,
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_HUB:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_MEMBALLOON:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_NVRAM:
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SHMEM:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_TPM:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_PANIC:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_IOMMU: