diff --git a/lib/linux_string.c b/lib/linux_string.c
index d5a5e08d98c..4b92cd923f2 100644
--- a/lib/linux_string.c
+++ b/lib/linux_string.c
@@ -31,13 +31,15 @@ char *skip_spaces(const char *str)
  * Note that the first trailing whitespace is replaced with a %NUL-terminator
  * in the given string @s. Returns a pointer to the first non-whitespace
  * character in @s.
+ *
+ * Note that if the string consist of only spaces, then the terminator is placed
+ * at the start of the string, with the return value pointing there also.
  */
 char *strim(char *s)
 {
 	size_t size;
 	char *end;
 
-	s = skip_spaces(s);
 	size = strlen(s);
 	if (!size)
 		return s;
@@ -47,5 +49,5 @@ char *strim(char *s)
 		end--;
 	*(end + 1) = '\0';
 
-	return s;
+	return skip_spaces(s);
 }
diff --git a/test/lib/string.c b/test/lib/string.c
index 31391a387b9..f56c2e4c946 100644
--- a/test/lib/string.c
+++ b/test/lib/string.c
@@ -261,3 +261,40 @@ static int lib_strstr(struct unit_test_state *uts)
 	return 0;
 }
 LIB_TEST(lib_strstr, 0);
+
+static int lib_strim(struct unit_test_state *uts)
+{
+	char buf[BUFLEN], *p;
+
+	strcpy(buf, "abc");
+	ut_asserteq_str("abc", strim(buf));
+
+	/* leading space */
+	strcpy(buf, " abc");
+	ut_asserteq_str("abc", strim(buf));
+
+	/* multiple leading spaces */
+	strcpy(buf, "  abc");
+	ut_asserteq_str("abc", strim(buf));
+
+	/* multiple internal spaces */
+	strcpy(buf, "  a   bc");
+	ut_asserteq_str("a   bc", strim(buf));
+
+	/* with trailing space */
+	strcpy(buf, "  a   bc ");
+	ut_asserteq_str("a   bc", strim(buf));
+
+	/* with multiple trailing spaces */
+	strcpy(buf, "  a   bc   ");
+	ut_asserteq_str("a   bc", strim(buf));
+
+	/* with only spaces */
+	strcpy(buf, "     ");
+	p = strim(buf);
+	ut_asserteq_ptr(p, buf);
+	ut_asserteq_str("", p);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+LIB_TEST(lib_strim, 0);