-

diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
index 2b5b6bf374..380f419873 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
@@ -2778,10 +2778,11 @@ static int setup_sd_notify_child(void) {
         if (fd < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to allocate notification socket: %m");
 
+        strncpy(sa.un.sun_path, NSPAWN_NOTIFY_SOCKET_PATH, sizeof(sa.un.sun_path));
+
         (void) mkdir_parents(NSPAWN_NOTIFY_SOCKET_PATH, 0755);
         (void) sockaddr_un_unlink(&sa.un);
 
-        strncpy(sa.un.sun_path, NSPAWN_NOTIFY_SOCKET_PATH, sizeof(sa.un.sun_path));
         r = bind(fd, &sa.sa, SOCKADDR_UN_LEN(sa.un));
         if (r < 0) {
                 safe_close(fd);