diff --git a/sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c b/sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c
--- a/sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c
+++ b/sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c
@@ -2640,8 +2640,8 @@
 	if (count > IOSIZE_MAX)
 		return (EINVAL);
 
-	NDINIT_AT(&nd, LOOKUP, NOFOLLOW | LOCKSHARED | LOCKLEAF | AUDITVNODE1,
-	    pathseg, path, fd, td);
+	NDINIT_AT(&nd, LOOKUP, NOFOLLOW | LOCKSHARED | LOCKLEAF | AUDITVNODE1 |
+	    EMPTYPATH, pathseg, path, fd, td);
 
 	if ((error = namei(&nd)) != 0)
 		return (error);