diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.c b/src/util/vircgroup.c
index 006391d8947b9f7e4d1ab80b3f5a7a9edd0fa3e6..028ef2c40e673732e16b74dbbc84d9b95a5c0ae2 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.c
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.c
@@ -1118,7 +1118,8 @@ static int virCgroupPartitionNeedsEscaping(const char *path)
     if (STRPREFIX(path, "cgroup."))
         return 1;
 
-    if (path[0] == '_')
+    if (path[0] == '_' ||
+        path[0] == '.')
         return 1;
 
     if (!(fp = fopen("/proc/cgroups", "r")))