--- java/org/apache/naming/resources/FileDirContext.java	(date 1529757103000)
+++ java/org/apache/naming/resources/FileDirContext.java	(date 1530112009000)
@@ -880,8 +880,12 @@ 
         //
         // absPath is normalized so canPath needs to be normalized as well
         // Can't normalize canPath earlier as canonicalBase is not normalized
-        if (canPath.length() > 0) {
-            canPath = normalize(canPath);
+        //
+        // normalize will always prepend a leading slash, so even an empty String
+        // will result in "/"
+        canPath = normalize(canPath);
+        if (absPath.length() == 0) { // normalize will never return an empty string
+            absPath = "/"; // so absPath needs to be fixed as well
         }
         if (!canPath.equals(absPath)) {
             return null;