diff --git a/adb/adb_utils.cpp b/adb/adb_utils.cpp
index 6817234b3..fd61bda61 100644
--- a/adb/adb_utils.cpp
+++ b/adb/adb_utils.cpp
@@ -134,9 +134,7 @@ bool mkdirs(const std::string& path) {
   // - Recursive, so it uses stack space relative to number of directory
   //   components.
 
-  const std::string parent(adb_dirname(path));
-
-  if (directory_exists(parent)) {
+  if (directory_exists(path)) {
     return true;
   }
 
@@ -144,19 +142,21 @@ bool mkdirs(const std::string& path) {
   // This can happen on Windows when walking up the directory hierarchy and not
   // finding anything that already exists (unlike POSIX that will eventually
   // find . or /).
+  const std::string parent(adb_dirname(path));
+
   if (parent == path) {
     errno = ENOENT;
     return false;
   }
 
-  // Recursively make parent directories of 'parent'.
+  // Recursively make parent directories of 'path'.
   if (!mkdirs(parent)) {
     return false;
   }
 
-  // Now that the parent directory hierarchy of 'parent' has been ensured,
+  // Now that the parent directory hierarchy of 'path' has been ensured,
   // create parent itself.
-  if (adb_mkdir(parent, 0775) == -1) {
+  if (adb_mkdir(path, 0775) == -1) {
     // Can't just check for errno == EEXIST because it might be a file that
     // exists.
     const int saved_errno = errno;
diff --git a/adb/commandline.cpp b/adb/commandline.cpp
index c5eabcffc..785fef3d9 100644
--- a/adb/commandline.cpp
+++ b/adb/commandline.cpp
@@ -1074,7 +1074,6 @@ static int backup(int argc, const char** argv) {
     if (argc < 2) return usage();
 
     adb_unlink(filename);
-    mkdirs(filename);
     int outFd = adb_creat(filename, 0640);
     if (outFd < 0) {
         fprintf(stderr, "adb: unable to open file %s\n", filename);
diff --git a/adb/file_sync_client.cpp b/adb/file_sync_client.cpp
index 6087c06f2..d2bc3cdb5 100644
--- a/adb/file_sync_client.cpp
+++ b/adb/file_sync_client.cpp
@@ -392,7 +392,12 @@ static bool sync_recv(SyncConnection& sc, const char* rpath, const char* lpath)
     if (!sc.SendRequest(ID_RECV, rpath)) return false;
 
     adb_unlink(lpath);
-    mkdirs(lpath);
+    if (!mkdirs(adb_dirname(lpath))) {
+        sc.Error("failed to create parent directory '%s': %s",
+                 adb_dirname(lpath).c_str(), strerror(errno));
+        return false;
+    }
+
     int lfd = adb_creat(lpath, 0644);
     if (lfd < 0) {
         sc.Error("cannot create '%s': %s", lpath, strerror(errno));
diff --git a/adb/file_sync_service.cpp b/adb/file_sync_service.cpp
index 298ed82eb..7484a7cf3 100644
--- a/adb/file_sync_service.cpp
+++ b/adb/file_sync_service.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 #include "adb.h"
 #include "adb_io.h"
+#include "adb_utils.h"
 #include "private/android_filesystem_config.h"
 
 #include <base/stringprintf.h>
@@ -53,8 +54,6 @@ static bool secure_mkdirs(const std::string& path) {
     if (path[0] != '/') return false;
 
     std::vector<std::string> path_components = android::base::Split(path, "/");
-    path_components.pop_back(); // For "/system/bin/sh", only create "/system/bin".
-
     std::string partial_path;
     for (const auto& path_component : path_components) {
         if (partial_path.back() != OS_PATH_SEPARATOR) partial_path += OS_PATH_SEPARATOR;
@@ -149,7 +148,7 @@ static bool handle_send_file(int s, const char* path, uid_t uid,
 
     int fd = adb_open_mode(path, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_CLOEXEC, mode);
     if (fd < 0 && errno == ENOENT) {
-        if (!secure_mkdirs(path)) {
+        if (!secure_mkdirs(adb_dirname(path))) {
             SendSyncFailErrno(s, "secure_mkdirs failed");
             goto fail;
         }
@@ -244,7 +243,7 @@ static bool handle_send_link(int s, const std::string& path, std::vector<char>&
 
     ret = symlink(&buffer[0], path.c_str());
     if (ret && errno == ENOENT) {
-        if (!secure_mkdirs(path)) {
+        if (!secure_mkdirs(adb_dirname(path))) {
             SendSyncFailErrno(s, "secure_mkdirs failed");
             return false;
         }