diff --git a/go/fileutil/join.go b/go/fileutil/join.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3b282ad9dca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/fileutil/join.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2025 The Vitess Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package fileutil
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+var ErrInvalidJoinedPath = errors.New("invalid joined path")
+
+// SafePathJoin joins file paths using a rootPath and one or many other paths,
+// returning a single absolute path. An error is returned if the joined path
+// causes a directory traversal to a path outside of the provided rootPath.
+func SafePathJoin(rootPath string, joinPaths ...string) (string, error) {
+	allPaths := make([]string, 0, len(joinPaths)+1)
+	allPaths = append(allPaths, rootPath)
+	allPaths = append(allPaths, joinPaths...)
+	p := filepath.Join(allPaths...)
+	absPath, err := filepath.Abs(p)
+	if err != nil {
+		return p, err
+	}
+	absRootPath, err := filepath.Abs(rootPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return absPath, err
+	}
+	if absPath != absRootPath && !strings.HasPrefix(absPath, absRootPath+string(os.PathSeparator)) {
+		return absPath, ErrInvalidJoinedPath
+	}
+	return absPath, nil
+}
diff --git a/go/fileutil/join_test.go b/go/fileutil/join_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6d1240fd0d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/fileutil/join_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2025 The Vitess Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package fileutil
+
+import (
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestSafePathJoin(t *testing.T) {
+	rootDir := t.TempDir()
+
+	t.Run("success", func(t *testing.T) {
+		path, err := SafePathJoin(rootDir, "good/path")
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.True(t, filepath.IsAbs(path))
+		require.Equal(t, filepath.Join(rootDir, "good/path"), path)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("dir-traversal", func(t *testing.T) {
+		_, err := SafePathJoin(rootDir, "../../..")
+		require.ErrorIs(t, err, ErrInvalidJoinedPath)
+	})
+}
diff --git a/go/vt/mysqlctl/filebackupstorage/file.go b/go/vt/mysqlctl/filebackupstorage/file.go
index a2e4175d11d..bff054692dc 100644
--- a/go/vt/mysqlctl/filebackupstorage/file.go
+++ b/go/vt/mysqlctl/filebackupstorage/file.go
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/os2"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/mysqlctl/errors"
-
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/fileutil"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/ioutil"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/os2"
 	stats "vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/mysqlctl/backupstats"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/mysqlctl/backupstorage"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/mysqlctl/errors"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/servenv"
 )
 
@@ -126,7 +126,10 @@ func (fbh *FileBackupHandle) ReadFile(ctx context.Context, filename string) (io.
 	if !fbh.readOnly {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("ReadFile cannot be called on read-write backup")
 	}
-	p := path.Join(FileBackupStorageRoot, fbh.dir, fbh.name, filename)
+	p, err := fileutil.SafePathJoin(FileBackupStorageRoot, fbh.dir, fbh.name, filename)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	f, err := os.Open(p)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -146,9 +149,13 @@ func newFileBackupStorage(params backupstorage.Params) *FileBackupStorage {
 
 // ListBackups is part of the BackupStorage interface
 func (fbs *FileBackupStorage) ListBackups(ctx context.Context, dir string) ([]backupstorage.BackupHandle, error) {
-	// ReadDir already sorts the results
-	p := path.Join(FileBackupStorageRoot, dir)
-	fi, err := os.ReadDir(p)
+	// Check dir is not a directory traversal.
+	path, err := fileutil.SafePathJoin(FileBackupStorageRoot, dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse backup path %q: %w", path, err)
+	}
+
+	fi, err := os.ReadDir(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			return nil, nil
@@ -172,14 +179,17 @@ func (fbs *FileBackupStorage) ListBackups(ctx context.Context, dir string) ([]ba
 // StartBackup is part of the BackupStorage interface
 func (fbs *FileBackupStorage) StartBackup(ctx context.Context, dir, name string) (backupstorage.BackupHandle, error) {
 	// Make sure the directory exists.
-	p := path.Join(FileBackupStorageRoot, dir)
-	if err := os2.MkdirAll(p); err != nil {
+	p, err := fileutil.SafePathJoin(FileBackupStorageRoot, dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if err = os2.MkdirAll(p); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	// Create the subdirectory for this named backup.
 	p = path.Join(p, name)
-	if err := os2.Mkdir(p); err != nil {
+	if err = os2.Mkdir(p); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -188,7 +198,10 @@ func (fbs *FileBackupStorage) StartBackup(ctx context.Context, dir, name string)
 
 // RemoveBackup is part of the BackupStorage interface
 func (fbs *FileBackupStorage) RemoveBackup(ctx context.Context, dir, name string) error {
-	p := path.Join(FileBackupStorageRoot, dir, name)
+	p, err := fileutil.SafePathJoin(FileBackupStorageRoot, dir, name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	return os.RemoveAll(p)
 }