diff --git a/src/ScannedFile.cc b/src/ScannedFile.cc
index 13eb87206f..cd93c448ec 100644
--- a/src/ScannedFile.cc
+++ b/src/ScannedFile.cc
@@ -21,14 +21,13 @@ ScannedFile::ScannedFile(int arg_include_level, std::string arg_name, bool arg_s
 		canonical_path = canonical_stdin_path;
 	else
 		{
-		char buf[PATH_MAX];
-		auto res = realpath(name.data(), buf);
+		std::error_code ec;
+		auto canon = filesystem::canonical(name, ec);
+		if ( ec )
+			zeek::reporter->FatalError("failed to get canonical path of %s: %s", name.data(),
+			                           ec.message().c_str());
 
-		if ( ! res )
-			zeek::reporter->FatalError("failed to get realpath() of %s: %s", name.data(),
-			                           strerror(errno));
-
-		canonical_path = res;
+		canonical_path = canon.string();
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/ScannedFile.h b/src/ScannedFile.h
index b51369ef8f..3f86466333 100644
--- a/src/ScannedFile.h
+++ b/src/ScannedFile.h
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ namespace zeek::detail
 	{
 
 // Script file we have already scanned (or are in the process of scanning).
-// They are identified by normalized realpath.
+// They are identified by normalized canonical path.
 class ScannedFile
 	{
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public:
 	bool skipped; // This ScannedFile was @unload'd.
 	bool prefixes_checked; // If loading prefixes for this file has been tried.
 	std::string name;
-	std::string canonical_path; // normalized, absolute path via realpath()
+	std::string canonical_path; // normalized, absolute path via std::filesystem::canonical()
 
 	static auto constexpr canonical_stdin_path = "<stdin>";
 	};
diff --git a/src/plugin/Manager.cc b/src/plugin/Manager.cc
index ba57268ca2..8e925ef493 100644
--- a/src/plugin/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/plugin/Manager.cc
@@ -76,14 +76,17 @@ void Manager::SearchDynamicPlugins(const std::string& dir)
 		return;
 		}
 
-	char canon_path[PATH_MAX];
-	if ( ! realpath(dir.data(), canon_path) )
+	std::error_code ec;
+	auto canon = filesystem::canonical(dir, ec);
+	if ( ec )
 		{
-		DBG_LOG(DBG_PLUGINS, "skip dynamic plugin search in %s, realpath failed: %s", dir.data(),
-		        strerror(errno));
+		DBG_LOG(DBG_PLUGINS, "skip dynamic plugin search in %s, making path canonical failed: %s",
+		        dir.data(), ec.message().c_str());
 		return;
 		}
 
+	std::string canon_path = canon.string();
+
 	if ( searched_dirs.count(canon_path) )
 		return;
 
diff --git a/src/plugin/Manager.h b/src/plugin/Manager.h
index 89b0deab5f..7278a1b582 100644
--- a/src/plugin/Manager.h
+++ b/src/plugin/Manager.h
@@ -482,7 +482,8 @@ private:
 
 	// Directories that have already been searched for dynamic plugins.
 	// Used to prevent multiple searches of the same dirs (e.g. via symlinks).
-	// The paths stored in the set are made canonical via realpath().
+	// The paths stored in the set are made canonical via calls to
+	// std::filesystem::canonical().
 	std::set<std::string, std::less<>> searched_dirs;
 
 	// Plugins that were explicitly requested to be activated, but failed to