diff --git a/pseudo_util.c b/pseudo_util.c
index 5f8ff19..f150a1b 100644
--- a/pseudo_util.c
+++ b/pseudo_util.c
@@ -694,9 +694,9 @@ pseudo_append_element(char *newpath, char *root, size_t allocated, char **pcurre
 			}
 			/* null-terminate buffer */
 			linkbuf[linklen] = '\0';
-			/* absolute symlink means start over! */
+			/* absolute symlink means go back to root */
 			if (*linkbuf == '/') {
-				current = newpath;
+				current = root;
 			} else {
 				/* point back at the end of the previous path... */
 				current -= (elen + 1);
@@ -794,8 +794,6 @@ static int pathbuf = 0;
  * path of baselen characters, presumed not to end in a /.  path is
  * the new path to be canonicalized.  The tricky part is that path may
  * contain symlinks, which must be resolved.
- * if "path" starts with a /, then it is an absolute path, and
- * we ignore base.
  */
 char *
 pseudo_fix_path(const char *base, const char *path, size_t rootlen, size_t baselen, size_t *lenp, int leave_last) {
diff --git a/test/test-chroot-symlink.c b/test/test-chroot-symlink.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..469cb49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-chroot-symlink.c
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/*
+ * Test that stat'ing absolute/relative symlinks in a chroot environment works
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-only
+ *
+ */
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+    struct stat buf;
+
+    if (argc != 2) {
+        perror("args");
+	return 2;
+    }
+    if (chroot(argv[1]) == -1) {
+        perror("chroot");
+        return 1;
+    }
+    if (stat("symlink", &buf) == -1) {
+        perror("stat symlink");
+        return 1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/test/test-chroot-symlink.sh b/test/test-chroot-symlink.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..91092c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-chroot-symlink.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Test that stat'ing absolute/relative symlinks in a chroot environment works
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-only
+#
+
+set -e
+
+touch symlink_target
+trap "rm -f symlink_target symlink" 0
+
+# Absolute symlink
+ln -s /symlink_target symlink
+./test/test-chroot-symlink `pwd`
+rm symlink
+
+# Relative symlink
+ln -s symlink_target symlink
+./test/test-chroot-symlink `pwd`