diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/wrapper-common/utils.bash b/pkgs/build-support/wrapper-common/utils.bash
index 0afccadf3384..44b44818c8ed 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/wrapper-common/utils.bash
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/wrapper-common/utils.bash
@@ -104,13 +104,13 @@ badPath() {
     # directory (including the build directory).
     test \
         "$p" != "/dev/null" -a \
-        "${p#${NIX_STORE}}"     = "$p" -a \
-        "${p#${NIX_BUILD_TOP}}" = "$p" -a \
-        "${p#/tmp}"             = "$p" -a \
-        "${p#${TMP:-/tmp}}"     = "$p" -a \
-        "${p#${TMPDIR:-/tmp}}"  = "$p" -a \
-        "${p#${TEMP:-/tmp}}"    = "$p" -a \
-        "${p#${TEMPDIR:-/tmp}}" = "$p"
+        "${p#"${NIX_STORE}"}"     = "$p" -a \
+        "${p#"${NIX_BUILD_TOP}"}" = "$p" -a \
+        "${p#/tmp}"               = "$p" -a \
+        "${p#"${TMP:-/tmp}"}"     = "$p" -a \
+        "${p#"${TMPDIR:-/tmp}"}"  = "$p" -a \
+        "${p#"${TEMP:-/tmp}"}"    = "$p" -a \
+        "${p#"${TEMPDIR:-/tmp}"}" = "$p"
 }
 
 expandResponseParams() {