diff --git a/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc b/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc
index c93b6d2920..aeb961005b 100644
--- a/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc
+++ b/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc
@@ -193,8 +193,11 @@ namespace Libc {
 	char const *config_nameserver_file() __attribute__((weak));
 	char const *config_nameserver_file()
 	{
+		static Genode::String<Vfs::MAX_PATH_LEN> default_value {
+			config_socket(), "/nameserver" };
+
 		static Config_attr ns_file("nameserver_file",
-		                           "/socket/nameserver");
+		                           default_value.string());
 		return ns_file.string();
 	}