diff --git a/lib/path.js b/lib/path.js
index f124a7ed640..ef85d2e0b58 100644
--- a/lib/path.js
+++ b/lib/path.js
@@ -1192,8 +1192,8 @@ const posix = {
     let resolvedAbsolute = false;
     let slashCheck = false;
 
-    for (let i = args.length - 1; i >= -1 && !resolvedAbsolute; i--) {
-      const path = i >= 0 ? args[i] : posixCwd();
+    for (let i = args.length - 1; i >= 0 && !resolvedAbsolute; i--) {
+      const path = args[i];
       validateString(path, `paths[${i}]`);
 
       // Skip empty entries
@@ -1215,6 +1215,13 @@ const posix = {
         StringPrototypeCharCodeAt(path, 0) === CHAR_FORWARD_SLASH;
     }
 
+    if (!resolvedAbsolute) {
+      const cwd = posixCwd();
+      resolvedPath = `${cwd}/${resolvedPath}`;
+      resolvedAbsolute =
+        StringPrototypeCharCodeAt(cwd, 0) === CHAR_FORWARD_SLASH;
+    }
+
     // At this point the path should be resolved to a full absolute path, but
     // handle relative paths to be safe (might happen when process.cwd() fails)