diff --git a/src/basic/chase.c b/src/basic/chase.c
index 43fad0d93f..b1e27b48c1 100644
--- a/src/basic/chase.c
+++ b/src/basic/chase.c
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@ int chaseat(int dir_fd, const char *path, ChaseFlags flags, char **ret_path, int
         assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, CHASE_PREFIX_ROOT));
         assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, CHASE_STEP|CHASE_EXTRACT_FILENAME));
         assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, CHASE_TRAIL_SLASH|CHASE_EXTRACT_FILENAME));
-        assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, CHASE_MKDIR_0755) || (flags & (CHASE_NONEXISTENT | CHASE_PARENT)) != 0);
         assert(dir_fd >= 0 || dir_fd == AT_FDCWD);
 
         /* Either the file may be missing, or we return an fd to the final object, but both make no sense */
@@ -370,13 +369,13 @@ int chaseat(int dir_fd, const char *path, ChaseFlags flags, char **ret_path, int
                         if (r != -ENOENT)
                                 return r;
 
-                        if (!isempty(todo) && !path_is_safe(todo))
+                        if (!isempty(todo) && !path_is_safe(todo)) /* Refuse parent/mkdir handling if suffix contains ".." or something weird */
                                 return r;
 
-                        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, CHASE_MKDIR_0755) && !isempty(todo)) {
+                        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, CHASE_MKDIR_0755) && (!isempty(todo) || !(flags & (CHASE_PARENT|CHASE_NONEXISTENT)))) {
                                 child = xopenat_full(fd,
                                                      first,
-                                                     O_DIRECTORY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC,
+                                                     O_DIRECTORY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL|O_NOFOLLOW|O_PATH|O_CLOEXEC,
                                                      /* xopen_flags = */ 0,
                                                      0755);
                                 if (child < 0)
diff --git a/src/basic/chase.h b/src/basic/chase.h
index cfc714b9f7..cedd7097fb 100644
--- a/src/basic/chase.h
+++ b/src/basic/chase.h
@@ -27,11 +27,7 @@ typedef enum ChaseFlags {
                                              * also points to the result path even if this flag is set.
                                              * When this specified, chase() will succeed with 1 even if the
                                              * file points to the last path component does not exist. */
-        CHASE_MKDIR_0755         = 1 << 11, /* Create any missing parent directories in the given path. This
-                                             * needs to be set with CHASE_NONEXISTENT and/or CHASE_PARENT.
-                                             * Note, chase_and_open() or friends always add CHASE_PARENT flag
-                                             * when internally call chase(), hence CHASE_MKDIR_0755 can be
-                                             * safely set without CHASE_NONEXISTENT and CHASE_PARENT. */
+        CHASE_MKDIR_0755         = 1 << 11, /* Create any missing directories in the given path. */
         CHASE_EXTRACT_FILENAME   = 1 << 12, /* Only return the last component of the resolved path */
 } ChaseFlags;
 
diff --git a/src/test/test-chase.c b/src/test/test-chase.c
index c7ca3fd051..510264c547 100644
--- a/src/test/test-chase.c
+++ b/src/test/test-chase.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "id128-util.h"
 #include "mkdir.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
+#include "random-util.h"
 #include "rm-rf.h"
 #include "string-util.h"
 #include "tests.h"
@@ -754,6 +755,34 @@ TEST(trailing_dot_dot) {
         assert_se(path_equal(fdpath, expected2));
 }
 
+TEST(use_chase_as_mkdir_p) {
+        _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL;
+        ASSERT_OK_ERRNO(asprintf(&p, "/tmp/chasemkdir%" PRIu64 "/a/b/c", random_u64()));
+
+        _cleanup_close_ int fd = -EBADF;
+        ASSERT_OK(chase(p, NULL, CHASE_PREFIX_ROOT|CHASE_MKDIR_0755, NULL, &fd));
+
+        ASSERT_OK_EQ(inode_same_at(AT_FDCWD, p, fd, NULL, AT_EMPTY_PATH), 1);
+
+        _cleanup_close_ int fd2 = -EBADF;
+        ASSERT_OK(chase(p, p, CHASE_PREFIX_ROOT|CHASE_MKDIR_0755, NULL, &fd2));
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *pp = ASSERT_PTR(path_join(p, p));
+
+        ASSERT_OK_EQ(inode_same_at(AT_FDCWD, pp, fd2, NULL, AT_EMPTY_PATH), 1);
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *f = NULL;
+        ASSERT_OK(path_extract_directory(p, &f));
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *ff = NULL;
+        ASSERT_OK(path_extract_directory(f, &ff));
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *fff = NULL;
+        ASSERT_OK(path_extract_directory(ff, &fff));
+
+        ASSERT_OK(rm_rf(fff, REMOVE_PHYSICAL));
+}
+
 static int intro(void) {
         arg_test_dir = saved_argv[1];
         return EXIT_SUCCESS;