diff --git a/pcp/PCPProcessList.c b/pcp/PCPProcessList.c
index 3001d5e8..b55b5a42 100644
--- a/pcp/PCPProcessList.c
+++ b/pcp/PCPProcessList.c
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ static void PCPProcessList_updateCmdline(Process* process, int pid, int offset,
    Process_updateComm(process, comm);
 
    if (PCPMetric_instance(PCP_PROC_EXE, pid, offset, &value, PM_TYPE_STRING)) {
-      Process_updateExe(process, value.cp);
+      Process_updateExe(process, value.cp[0] ? value.cp : NULL);
       free(value.cp);
    }
 }