diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetsocket.c b/src/rpc/virnetsocket.c
index 151077c2dd..79bf8e511a 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetsocket.c
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetsocket.c
@@ -123,9 +123,19 @@ VIR_ONCE_GLOBAL_INIT(virNetSocket);
 #ifndef WIN32
 static int virNetSocketForkDaemon(const char *binary)
 {
-    g_autoptr(virCommand) cmd = virCommandNewArgList(binary,
-                                                     "--timeout=120",
-                                                     NULL);
+    g_autofree char *binarypath = virFindFileInPath(binary);
+    g_autoptr(virCommand) cmd = NULL;
+
+    if (!binarypath) {
+        virReportSystemError(ENOENT,
+                             _("binary '%1$s' does not exist in $PATH"),
+                             binary);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    cmd = virCommandNewArgList(binarypath,
+                               "--timeout=120",
+                               NULL);
 
     virCommandAddEnvPassCommon(cmd);
     virCommandAddEnvPass(cmd, "XDG_CACHE_HOME");