diff --git a/ffserver.c b/ffserver.c
index 02a583464b3784b19139c711943372cb2f295cef..8b819b693461772cc5da89cae2ae9c3ebbb68194 100644
--- a/ffserver.c
+++ b/ffserver.c
@@ -495,20 +495,22 @@ static void start_children(FFServerStream *feed)
         return;
     }
 
-    pathname = av_strdup (my_program_name);
+    slash = strrchr(my_program_name, '/');
+    if (!slash) {
+        pathname = av_mallocz(sizeof("ffmpeg"));
+    } else {
+        pathname = av_mallocz(slash - my_program_name + sizeof("ffmpeg"));
+        if (pathname != NULL) {
+            memcpy(pathname, my_program_name, slash - my_program_name);
+        }
+    }
     if (!pathname) {
         http_log("Could not allocate memory for children cmd line\n");
         return;
     }
-   /* replace "ffserver" with "ffmpeg" in the path of current
-    * program. Ignore user provided path */
+   /* use "ffmpeg" in the path of current program. Ignore user provided path */
 
-    slash = strrchr(pathname, '/');
-    if (!slash)
-        slash = pathname;
-    else
-        slash++;
-    strcpy(slash, "ffmpeg");
+    strcat(pathname, "ffmpeg");
 
     for (; feed; feed = feed->next) {