diff --git "a/dll/win32/shell32/shlexec.cpp" "b/dll/win32/shell32/shlexec.cpp"
index 4f484d89998..630e1c67920 100644
--- "a/dll/win32/shell32/shlexec.cpp"
+++ "b/dll/win32/shell32/shlexec.cpp"
@@ -1098,6 +1098,13 @@ static UINT SHELL_FindExecutable(LPCWSTR lpPath, LPCWSTR lpFile, LPCWSTR lpVerb,
         lstrcpyW(lpResult, xlpFile);
         /* The file was found in lpPath or one of the directories in the system-wide search path */
     }
+    /* We need to see if lpFile begins with dot follwed by a backslash and
+     * if so, we need to delete these extra characters. See CORE-20508 */
+    else if (lpFile[0] == '.' && lpFile[1] == '\\')
+    {
+        lstrcpyW(xlpFile, &lpFile[2]);
+        lpFile = xlpFile;
+    }
     else
     {
         xlpFile[0] = '\0';