diff --git a/lib/Controller/PublicController.php b/lib/Controller/PublicController.php
index f0b022ab..77b240e8 100644
--- a/lib/Controller/PublicController.php
+++ b/lib/Controller/PublicController.php
@@ -196,9 +196,10 @@ class PublicController extends AuthPublicShareController
         $relPath = substr($node->getPath(), \strlen($userFolder->getPath()));
 
         // Get the user's folders path
-        $foldersPath = $this->config->getUserValue($user->getUID(), Application::APPNAME, 'foldersPath', '');
-        $foldersPath = $foldersPath ?: '/';
-        $foldersPath = Util::sanitizePath($foldersPath);
+        $foldersPath = $this->config->getUserValue($user->getUID(), Application::APPNAME, 'foldersPath', null) ?: '/';
+
+        // Sanitize folders path ensuring leading and trailing slashes
+        $foldersPath = Util::sanitizePath('/' . $foldersPath . '/');
 
         // Check if relPath starts with foldersPath
         if (0 !== strpos($relPath, $foldersPath)) {
diff --git a/lib/Util.php b/lib/Util.php
index e06e56c4..f4318287 100644
--- a/lib/Util.php
+++ b/lib/Util.php
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ class Util
     /**
      * Sanitize a path to keep only ASCII characters and special characters.
      */
-    public static function sanitizePath(string $path)
+    public static function sanitizePath(string $path): string
     {
         $path = str_replace("\0", '', $path); // remove null characters