diff --git a/fuzzing/fuzz_uri_escape.c b/fuzzing/fuzz_uri_escape.c
index 3ee7f7089..ca14973f3 100644
--- a/fuzzing/fuzz_uri_escape.c
+++ b/fuzzing/fuzz_uri_escape.c
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ test_bytes (const guint8 *data,
   if (size > G_MAXSSIZE)
     return;
 
-  unescaped_bytes = g_uri_unescape_bytes ((const gchar *) data, (gssize) size);
+  unescaped_bytes = g_uri_unescape_bytes ((const gchar *) data, (gssize) size, NULL);
   if (unescaped_bytes == NULL)
     return;
 
diff --git a/glib/guri.c b/glib/guri.c
index e4fbc003d..7a4fc5b18 100644
--- a/glib/guri.c
+++ b/glib/guri.c
@@ -2218,12 +2218,20 @@ g_uri_escape_string (const gchar *unescaped,
  * @escaped_string: A URI-escaped string
  * @length: the length of @escaped_string to escape, or -1 if it
  *   is NUL-terminated.
+ * @illegal_characters: (nullable): a string of illegal characters
+ *   not to be allowed, or %NULL.
  *
  * Unescapes a segment of an escaped string as binary data.
  *
  * Note that in contrast to g_uri_unescape_string(), this does allow
  * `NUL` bytes to appear in the output.
  *
+ * If any of the characters in @illegal_characters or the NUL
+ * character appears as an escaped character in @escaped_string, then
+ * that is an error and %NULL will be returned. This is useful if you
+ * want to avoid for instance having a slash being expanded in an
+ * escaped path element, which might confuse pathname handling.
+ *
  * Returns: (transfer full): an unescaped version of @escaped_string
  * or %NULL on error. The returned #GBytes should be unreffed when no
  * longer needed.
@@ -2232,7 +2240,8 @@ g_uri_escape_string (const gchar *unescaped,
  **/
 GBytes *
 g_uri_unescape_bytes (const gchar *escaped_string,
-                      gssize       length)
+                      gssize       length,
+                      const char *illegal_characters)
 {
   gchar *buf;
   gssize unescaped_length;
@@ -2243,7 +2252,7 @@ g_uri_unescape_bytes (const gchar *escaped_string,
     length = strlen (escaped_string);
 
   unescaped_length = uri_decoder (&buf,
-                                  NULL,
+                                  illegal_characters,
                                   escaped_string, length,
                                   FALSE,
                                   FALSE,
diff --git a/glib/guri.h b/glib/guri.h
index 5db6691ba..3c061c9ba 100644
--- a/glib/guri.h
+++ b/glib/guri.h
@@ -357,7 +357,8 @@ char *      g_uri_escape_string    (const char *unescaped,
 
 GLIB_AVAILABLE_IN_2_66
 GBytes *    g_uri_unescape_bytes   (const char *escaped_string,
-                                    gssize      length);
+                                    gssize      length,
+                                    const char *illegal_characters);
 GLIB_AVAILABLE_IN_2_66
 char *      g_uri_escape_bytes     (const guchar *unescaped,
                                     gsize         length,
diff --git a/glib/tests/uri.c b/glib/tests/uri.c
index 6927b8904..7d3082637 100644
--- a/glib/tests/uri.c
+++ b/glib/tests/uri.c
@@ -372,15 +372,18 @@ test_uri_unescape_bytes (gconstpointer test_data)
     {
       /* Inputs */
       const gchar *escaped;  /* (nullable) */
+      const gchar *illegal;
       /* Outputs */
       gssize expected_unescaped_len;  /* -1 => error expected */
       const guint8 *expected_unescaped;  /* (nullable) */
     }
   tests[] =
     {
-      { "%00%00", 2, (const guint8 *) "\x00\x00" },
-      { "%%", -1, NULL },
-      { "%", -1, NULL },
+      { "%00%00", NULL, 2, (const guint8 *) "\x00\x00" },
+      { "/cursors/none.png", "/", 17, "/cursors/none.png" },
+      { "/cursors%2fbad-subdir/none.png", "/", -1, NULL },
+      { "%%", NULL, -1, NULL },
+      { "%", NULL, -1, NULL },
     };
   gsize i;
 
@@ -407,7 +410,7 @@ test_uri_unescape_bytes (gconstpointer test_data)
           escaped = g_memdup (tests[i].escaped, escaped_len);
         }
 
-      bytes = g_uri_unescape_bytes (escaped, escaped_len);
+      bytes = g_uri_unescape_bytes (escaped, escaped_len, tests[i].illegal);
 
       if (tests[i].expected_unescaped_len < 0)
         {