diff --git a/src/basic/fs-util.h b/src/basic/fs-util.h
index eb031a0ccde..b2c01079901 100644
--- a/src/basic/fs-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/fs-util.h
@@ -172,3 +172,12 @@ static inline int at_flags_normalize_nofollow(int flags) {
                 flags |= AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW;
         return flags;
 }
+
+static inline int at_flags_normalize_follow(int flags) {
+        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW)) {
+                assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW));
+                flags &= ~AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW;
+        } else
+                flags |= AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW;
+        return flags;
+}
diff --git a/src/basic/stat-util.c b/src/basic/stat-util.c
index 2181ee2df51..10bd7c0fe17 100644
--- a/src/basic/stat-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/stat-util.c
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ int inode_same_at(int fda, const char *filea, int fdb, const char *fileb, int fl
                         flags |= AT_EMPTY_PATH;
                 }
 
-                int ntha_flags = (flags & AT_EMPTY_PATH) | (FLAGS_SET(flags, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) ? 0 : AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW);
+                int ntha_flags = at_flags_normalize_follow(flags) & (AT_EMPTY_PATH|AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW);
                 _cleanup_free_ struct file_handle *ha = NULL, *hb = NULL;
                 int mntida = -1, mntidb = -1;
 
diff --git a/src/basic/xattr-util.c b/src/basic/xattr-util.c
index d2daf87ec91..896d85bf5cc 100644
--- a/src/basic/xattr-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/xattr-util.c
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ int fd_getcrtime_at(
          * most sense. */
 
         if (statx(fd, strempty(path),
-                  (flags & ~AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW)|(FLAGS_SET(flags, AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW) ? 0 : AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW)|AT_STATX_DONT_SYNC,
+                  at_flags_normalize_nofollow(flags)|AT_STATX_DONT_SYNC,
                   STATX_BTIME,
                   &sx) >= 0 &&
             (sx.stx_mask & STATX_BTIME) &&