diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/intern/util.c b/source/blender/blenlib/intern/util.c
index ad34af05ac7..848e45ccb1b 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/intern/util.c
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/intern/util.c
@@ -1173,10 +1173,12 @@ int BLI_convertstringcode(char *path, const char *basepath)
 		strcpy(path, tmp);
 	}
 	
-	if (path[strlen(path)-1]=='/') {
-		BLI_cleanup_dir(NULL, path);
-	} else {
-		BLI_cleanup_file(NULL, path);
+	if (path[0]!='\0') {
+		if ( path[strlen(path)-1]=='/') {
+			BLI_cleanup_dir(NULL, path);
+		} else {
+			BLI_cleanup_file(NULL, path);
+		}
 	}
 	
 #ifdef WIN32
diff --git a/source/blender/python/api2_2x/Sys.c b/source/blender/python/api2_2x/Sys.c
index b0d18f9f4aa..baae2220143 100644
--- a/source/blender/python/api2_2x/Sys.c
+++ b/source/blender/python/api2_2x/Sys.c
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ static PyObject *M_sys_cleanpath( PyObject * self, PyObject * value )
 		return EXPP_ReturnPyObjError( PyExc_TypeError,
 			"expected string argument" );
 	last = strlen(path)-1;
-	if ((path[last]=='/') || (path[last]=='\\')) {
+	if ((last >= 0) && ((path[last]=='/') || (path[last]=='\\'))) {
 		trailing_slash = 1;
 	}
 	BLI_strncpy(cleaned, path, FILE_MAXDIR + FILE_MAXFILE);