diff --git a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3 b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3
index ed0a4a3c1226..50466123ee89 100644
--- a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3
+++ b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd November 18, 2020
+.Dd November 25, 2020
 .Dt GETLOCALBASE 3
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ If that is undefined then the default of
 .Pa /usr/local
 is used.
 .Pp
-The value returned by the
+The contents of the string returned by the
 .Fn getlocalbase
 function shall not be modified.
 .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
@@ -67,13 +67,34 @@ Calls to
 .Fn getlocalbase
 will perform a setugid check on the running binary before checking the
 environment.
+.Pp
+The address returned by
+.Fn getlocalbase
+will point into the executing processes environment if it is the result of
+.Fn getenv "LOCALBASE" ,
+to a static buffer if it is the result of
+.Fn sysctl "user.localbase" ,
+and to a constant string if the compiled in default value is returned.
+.Pp
+The same value will be returned on successive calls during the run-time
+of the program, ignoring any changes to the environment variable or the
+sysctl value that might have been made.
+.Pp
+The
+.Fn getlocalbase
+function can be compiled with a non-default value of LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN.
+A value of 0 will disable fetching of the sysctl value, a value less than
+MAXPATHLEN will put a limit on the maximum string length supported for
+this sysctl value.
+If built with a non-default value of LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN, a value of the
+user.localbase sysctl variable longer than this value will make
+.Fn getlocalbase
+return a valid string that is not a valid path prefix in any filesystem.
 .Sh RETURN VALUES
 The
 .Fn getlocalbase
-function always succeeds and returns a pointer to a string, whose length
-may exceed MAXPATHLEN if it has been derived from the environment variable
-LOCALBASE.
-No length checks are performed on the result.
+function returns a pointer to a string, whose length may exceed MAXPATHLEN,
+if it has been obtained from the environment.
 .Sh ENVIRONMENT
 The
 .Fn getlocalbase
@@ -83,7 +104,7 @@ environment variable.
 .Sh ERRORS
 The
 .Fn getlocalbase
-function always succeeds.
+function always succeeds and returns a valid pointer to a string.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr env 1 ,
 .Xr src.conf 5 ,
diff --git a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c
index 3d6bcc067391..8ecd8447155c 100644
--- a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c
+++ b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ __FBSDID("$FreeBSD$");
 #include <sys/param.h>
 #include <sys/sysctl.h>
 #include <sys/limits.h>
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <paths.h>
 #include <libutil.h>
@@ -40,35 +41,50 @@ __FBSDID("$FreeBSD$");
 #define _PATH_LOCALBASE "/usr/local"
 #endif
 
+#ifndef LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN
+#define LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN MAXPATHLEN
+#endif
+
+/* Any prefix guaranteed to not be the start of a valid path name */
+#define ILLEGAL_PREFIX "/dev/null/"
+
 const char *
 getlocalbase(void)
 {
-	static const int localbase_oid[2] = {CTL_USER, USER_LOCALBASE};
+#if LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN > 0 
+	int localbase_oid[2] = {CTL_USER, USER_LOCALBASE};
+	static char localpath[LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN];
+	size_t localpathlen = LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN;
+#endif
 	char *tmppath;
-	size_t tmplen;
 	static const char *localbase = NULL;
 
+	if (localbase != NULL)
+		return (localbase);
+
 	if (issetugid() == 0) {
 		tmppath = getenv("LOCALBASE");
-		if (tmppath != NULL && tmppath[0] != '\0')
-			return (tmppath);
-	}
-	if (sysctl(localbase_oid, 2, NULL, &tmplen, NULL, 0) == 0 &&
-	    (tmppath = malloc(tmplen)) != NULL && 
-	    sysctl(localbase_oid, 2, tmppath, &tmplen, NULL, 0) == 0) {
-		/*
-		 * Check for some other thread already having 
-		 * set localbase - this should use atomic ops.
-		 * The amount of memory allocated above may leak,
-		 * if a parallel update in another thread is not
-		 * detected and the non-NULL pointer is overwritten.
-		 */
-		if (tmppath[0] != '\0' &&
-		    (volatile const char*)localbase == NULL)
+		if (tmppath != NULL && tmppath[0] != '\0') {
 			localbase = tmppath;
-		else
-			free((void*)tmppath);
-		return (localbase);
+			return (localbase);
+		}
 	}
-	return (_PATH_LOCALBASE);
+
+#if LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN > 0
+	if (sysctl(localbase_oid, 2, localpath, &localpathlen, NULL, 0) != 0) {
+		if (errno != ENOMEM)
+			localbase = _PATH_LOCALBASE;
+		else
+			localbase = ILLEGAL_PREFIX;
+	} else {
+		if (localpath[0] != '\0')
+			localbase = localpath;
+		else
+			localbase = _PATH_LOCALBASE;
+	}
+#else
+	localbase = _PATH_LOCALBASE;
+#endif
+
+	return (localbase);
 }