diff --git a/pkg/systemd/parser/split.go b/pkg/systemd/parser/split.go
index 433e869a65..60da6f1e4a 100644
--- a/pkg/systemd/parser/split.go
+++ b/pkg/systemd/parser/split.go
@@ -170,14 +170,7 @@ func cUnescapeOne(p string, acceptNul bool) (int, rune, bool) {
 
 		ret = rune(c)
 		count = 9
-	case '0':
-	case '1':
-	case '2':
-	case '3':
-	case '4':
-	case '5':
-	case '6':
-	case '7':
+	case '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7':
 		/* octal encoding */
 
 		if len(p) < 3 {
@@ -189,12 +182,12 @@ func cUnescapeOne(p string, acceptNul bool) (int, rune, bool) {
 			return -1, 0, false
 		}
 
-		b := unoctchar(p[0])
+		b := unoctchar(p[1])
 		if b < 0 {
 			return -1, 0, false
 		}
 
-		c := unoctchar(p[0])
+		c := unoctchar(p[2])
 		if c < 0 {
 			return -1, 0, false
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/systemd/parser/split_test.go b/pkg/systemd/parser/split_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..657fff7853
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/systemd/parser/split_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+package parser
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestCUnescapeOne(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name      string
+		in        string
+		acceptNul bool
+
+		ret      rune
+		count    int
+		eightBit bool
+	}{
+		{name: "empty", in: "", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid \k`, in: "k", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `\a`, in: "a", ret: '\a', count: 1},
+		{name: `\b`, in: "b", ret: '\b', count: 1},
+		{name: `\f`, in: "f", ret: '\f', count: 1},
+		{name: `\n`, in: "n", ret: '\n', count: 1},
+		{name: `\r`, in: "r", ret: '\r', count: 1},
+		{name: `\t`, in: "t", ret: '\t', count: 1},
+		{name: `\v`, in: "v", ret: '\v', count: 1},
+		{name: `\\`, in: "\\", ret: '\\', count: 1},
+		{name: `"`, in: "\"", ret: '"', count: 1},
+		{name: `'`, in: "'", ret: '\'', count: 1},
+		{name: `\s`, in: "s", ret: ' ', count: 1},
+		{name: `too short \x1`, in: "x1", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid hex \xzz`, in: "xzz", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid hex \xaz`, in: "xaz", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `\xAb1`, in: "xAb1", ret: '«', count: 3, eightBit: true},
+		{name: `\x000 acceptNul=false`, in: "x000", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `\x000 acceptNul=true`, in: "x000", ret: 0, count: 3, eightBit: true, acceptNul: true},
+		{name: `too short \u123`, in: "u123", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `\u2a00`, in: "u2a00", ret: '⨀', count: 5},
+		{name: `invalid hex \u12v1A`, in: "u12v1A", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `\u0000 acceptNul=false`, in: "u0000", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `\u0000 acceptNul=true`, in: "u0000", ret: 0, count: 5, acceptNul: true},
+		{name: `too short \U123`, in: "U123", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid unicode \U12345678`, in: "U12345678", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid hex \U1234V678`, in: "U1234V678", ret: 0, count: -10},
+		{name: `\U0001F51F`, in: "U0001F51F", ret: '🔟', count: 9},
+		{name: `\U00000000 acceptNul=false`, in: "U00000000", ret: 0, count: -1, acceptNul: false},
+		{name: `\U00000000 acceptNul=true`, in: "U00000000", ret: 0, count: 9, acceptNul: true},
+		{name: "376", in: "376", ret: 'þ', count: 3, eightBit: true},
+		{name: `too short 77`, in: "77", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid octal 792`, in: "792", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `invalid octal 758`, in: "758", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `000 acceptNul=false`, in: "000", ret: 0, count: -1},
+		{name: `000 acceptNul=true`, in: "000", ret: 0, count: 3, acceptNul: true, eightBit: true},
+		{name: `too big 777 > 255 bytes`, in: "777", ret: 0, count: -1},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			count, out, eightBit := cUnescapeOne(test.in, test.acceptNul)
+			assert.Equal(t, test.count, count)
+			assert.Equal(t, test.ret, out)
+			assert.Equal(t, test.eightBit, eightBit)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExtractFirstWordUnescapes(t *testing.T) {
+	input := `\a \b \f \n \r \t \v \\ \" \' \s \x50odman is \U0001F51F/\u0031\u0030 \110ello \127orld`
+	expected := []string{"\a", "\b", "\f", "\n", "\r", "\t", "\v", "\\", "\"", "'", " ",
+		"Podman", "is", "🔟/10", "Hello", "World"}
+
+	next := input
+	for i := range expected {
+		word, remaining, _, err := extractFirstWord(next, " ", SplitCUnescape)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		next = remaining
+		assert.Equal(t, expected[i], word)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/e2e/quadlet/escapes.container b/test/e2e/quadlet/escapes.container
index b9b36dc4f1..46d4d160df 100644
--- a/test/e2e/quadlet/escapes.container
+++ b/test/e2e/quadlet/escapes.container
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-## assert-podman-final-args "/some/path" "an arg" "a;b\\nc\\td'e" "a;b\\nc\\td" "a\"b"
+## assert-podman-final-args "/some/path" "an arg" "a;b\\nc\\td'e" "a;b\\nc\\td" "a\"b" "Hello World"
 
 [Container]
 Image=localhost/imagename
-Exec=/some/path "an arg" "a;b\nc\td'e" a;b\nc\td 'a"b'
+Exec=/some/path "an arg" "a;b\nc\td'e" a;b\nc\td 'a"b' '\110ello \127orld'