diff --git a/lib/elixir/lib/file.ex b/lib/elixir/lib/file.ex
index b33731ef8f..a1512756b0 100644
--- a/lib/elixir/lib/file.ex
+++ b/lib/elixir/lib/file.ex
@@ -670,15 +670,21 @@ defmodule File do
       File.cp_r "samples", "tmp"
 
       # Same as before, but asks the user how to proceed in case of conflicts
-      File.cp_r "samples", "tmp", fn(source, destination) ->
+      File.cp_r "samples", "tmp", fn source, destination ->
         IO.gets("Overwriting #{destination} by #{source}. Type y to confirm. ") == "y\n"
       end
 
   """
   @spec cp_r(Path.t, Path.t, (Path.t, Path.t -> boolean)) :: {:ok, [binary]} | {:error, posix, binary}
-  def cp_r(source, destination, callback \\ fn(_, _) -> true end) when is_function(callback, 2) do
-    source = IO.chardata_to_string(source)
-    destination = IO.chardata_to_string(destination)
+  def cp_r(source, destination, callback \\ fn _, _ -> true end) when is_function(callback, 2) do
+    source =
+      source
+      |> IO.chardata_to_string()
+      |> assert_no_null_byte!("File.cp_r/3")
+    destination =
+      destination
+      |> IO.chardata_to_string()
+      |> assert_no_null_byte!("File.cp_r/3")
 
     case do_cp_r(source, destination, callback, []) do
       {:error, _, _} = error -> error
@@ -947,7 +953,10 @@ defmodule File do
   """
   @spec rm_rf(Path.t) :: {:ok, [binary]} | {:error, posix, binary}
   def rm_rf(path) do
-    do_rm_rf(IO.chardata_to_string(path), {:ok, []})
+    path
+    |> IO.chardata_to_string()
+    |> assert_no_null_byte!("File.cp_r/3")
+    |> do_rm_rf({:ok, []})
   end
 
   defp do_rm_rf(path, {:ok, _} = entry) do
@@ -1454,6 +1463,15 @@ defmodule File do
 
   @read_ahead_size 64 * 1024
 
+  defp assert_no_null_byte!(binary, operation) do
+    case :binary.match(binary, "\0") do
+      {_, _} ->
+        raise ArgumentError, "cannot execute #{operation} for path with null byte, got: #{inspect binary}"
+      :nomatch ->
+        binary
+    end
+  end
+
   defp normalize_modes([:utf8 | rest], binary?) do
     [encoding: :utf8] ++ normalize_modes(rest, binary?)
   end
diff --git a/lib/elixir/lib/path.ex b/lib/elixir/lib/path.ex
index e62ca7c124..d08203e593 100644
--- a/lib/elixir/lib/path.ex
+++ b/lib/elixir/lib/path.ex
@@ -615,17 +615,19 @@ defmodule Path do
   def wildcard(glob, opts \\ []) do
     mod = if Keyword.get(opts, :match_dot), do: :file, else: Path.Wildcard
     glob
-    |> chardata_to_list()
+    |> chardata_to_list!()
     |> :filelib.wildcard(mod)
     |> Enum.map(&IO.chardata_to_string/1)
   end
 
-  # expand_dot the given path by expanding "..", "." and "~".
-
-  defp chardata_to_list(chardata) do
+  defp chardata_to_list!(chardata) do
     case :unicode.characters_to_list(chardata) do
       result when is_list(result) ->
-        result
+        if 0 in result do
+          raise ArgumentError, "cannot execute Path.wildcard/2 for path with null byte, got: #{inspect chardata}"
+        else
+          result
+        end
 
       {:error, encoded, rest} ->
         raise UnicodeConversionError, encoded: encoded, rest: rest, kind: :invalid
@@ -654,6 +656,8 @@ defmodule Path do
     end
   end
 
+  # expand_dot the given path by expanding "..", "." and "~".
+
   defp expand_dot(<<"/", rest::binary>>),
     do: "/" <> do_expand_dot(rest)
   defp expand_dot(<<letter, ":/", rest::binary>>) when letter in ?a..?z,
diff --git a/lib/elixir/test/elixir/file_test.exs b/lib/elixir/test/elixir/file_test.exs
index 16642a188a..b3aa2e226a 100644
--- a/lib/elixir/test/elixir/file_test.exs
+++ b/lib/elixir/test/elixir/file_test.exs
@@ -460,6 +460,11 @@ defmodule FileTest do
       end
     end
 
+    test "cp_r raises on path with null byte" do
+      assert_raise ArgumentError, ~r/null byte/, fn -> File.cp_r("source", "foo\0bar") end
+      assert_raise ArgumentError, ~r/null byte/, fn -> File.cp_r("foo\0bar", "dest") end
+    end
+
     test "cp_r with src file and dest file" do
       src  = fixture_path("file.txt")
       dest = tmp_path("sample.txt")
@@ -1113,6 +1118,10 @@ defmodule FileTest do
       refute File.exists?(fixture)
     end
 
+    test "rm_rf raises on path with null byte" do
+      assert_raise ArgumentError, ~r/null byte/, fn -> File.rm_rf("foo\0bar") end
+    end
+
     test "rm_rf with symlink" do
       from = tmp_path("tmp/from")
       to   = tmp_path("tmp/to")
diff --git a/lib/elixir/test/elixir/path_test.exs b/lib/elixir/test/elixir/path_test.exs
index 35bb4cd8af..a2472a2e2f 100644
--- a/lib/elixir/test/elixir/path_test.exs
+++ b/lib/elixir/test/elixir/path_test.exs
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ defmodule PathTest do
     File.rm_rf tmp_path("wildcard")
   end
 
+  test "wildcard/2 raises on null byte" do
+    assert_raise ArgumentError, ~r/null byte/, fn -> Path.wildcard("foo\0bar") end
+  end
+
   if windows?() do
     describe "Windows" do
       test "relative/1" do