diff --git a/test-path-utils.c b/test-path-utils.c
index a0bcb0e2105..2c0f5a37e8b 100644
--- a/test-path-utils.c
+++ b/test-path-utils.c
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	if (argc == 3 && !strcmp(argv[1], "normalize_absolute_path")) {
-		char *buf = xmalloc(strlen(argv[2])+1);
+		char *buf = xmalloc(PATH_MAX + 1);
 		int rv = normalize_absolute_path(buf, argv[2]);
 		assert(strlen(buf) == rv);
 		puts(buf);