diff --git a/src/libcrun/cgroup.c b/src/libcrun/cgroup.c
index 63f43d7cf2..7c6a9ddd0e 100644
--- a/src/libcrun/cgroup.c
+++ b/src/libcrun/cgroup.c
@@ -390,6 +390,9 @@ libcrun_cgroup_enter_finalize (struct libcrun_cgroup_args *args, struct libcrun_
   if (delegate_cgroup == NULL)
     return 0;
 
+  if (path_has_dot_dot_component (delegate_cgroup))
+    return crun_make_error (err, 0, "invalid `..` component in delegate-cgroup `%s`", delegate_cgroup);
+
   cgroup_mode = libcrun_get_cgroup_mode (err);
   if (UNLIKELY (cgroup_mode < 0))
     return cgroup_mode;
diff --git a/src/libcrun/status.c b/src/libcrun/status.c
index 1eb96c3502..e32a5baf8b 100644
--- a/src/libcrun/status.c
+++ b/src/libcrun/status.c
@@ -45,12 +45,31 @@ struct pid_stat
   unsigned long long starttime;
 };
 
-/* If ID is not NULL, then ennsure that it does not contain any slash.  */
+static inline bool
+is_valid_id_char (char c, bool first)
+{
+  if ((c >= 'a' && c <= 'z') || (c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z') || (c >= '0' && c <= '9'))
+    return true;
+  if (first)
+    return false;
+  return c == '_' || c == '.' || c == '-';
+}
+
+/* Ensure the ID is not empty and matches [a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_.-]*.  */
 static int
 validate_id (const char *id, libcrun_error_t *err)
 {
-  if (id && strchr (id, '/') != NULL)
-    return crun_make_error (err, 0, "invalid character `/` in the ID `%s`", id);
+  if (id == NULL)
+    return 0;
+
+  if (id[0] == '\0')
+    return crun_make_error (err, 0, "empty container ID");
+
+  for (size_t i = 0; id[i]; i++)
+    {
+      if (! is_valid_id_char (id[i], i == 0))
+        return crun_make_error (err, 0, "invalid character `%c` in the container ID `%s`", id[i], id);
+    }
 
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/libcrun/utils.h b/src/libcrun/utils.h
index 1aa378d952..268dff58e9 100644
--- a/src/libcrun/utils.h
+++ b/src/libcrun/utils.h
@@ -404,6 +404,34 @@ is_empty_string (const char *s)
   return s == NULL || s[0] == '\0';
 }
 
+static inline bool
+path_has_dot_dot_component (const char *path)
+{
+  if (path == NULL)
+    return false;
+  cleanup_free char *npath = xstrdup (path);
+  char *cur, *it;
+
+  cur = npath;
+  it = strchr (cur, '/');
+  while (cur)
+    {
+      if (it)
+        *it = '\0';
+
+      if (strcmp (cur, "..") == 0)
+        return true;
+
+      if (it == NULL)
+        break;
+
+      cur = consume_slashes (it + 1);
+      *it = '/';
+      it = strchr (cur, '/');
+    }
+  return false;
+}
+
 static inline int
 waitpid_ignore_stopped (pid_t pid, int *status, int options)
 {
diff --git a/tests/test_cgroup_setup.py b/tests/test_cgroup_setup.py
index 42e24e4bac..e556629332 100755
--- a/tests/test_cgroup_setup.py
+++ b/tests/test_cgroup_setup.py
@@ -1298,6 +1298,39 @@ def test_annotation_delegate_cgroup():
             run_crun_command(["delete", "-f", cid])
 
 
+def test_annotation_delegate_cgroup_dotdot():
+    """Test that run.oci.delegate-cgroup rejects '..' components."""
+    if not is_cgroup_v2_unified():
+        return (77, "requires cgroup v2")
+    if not running_on_systemd():
+        return (77, "requires systemd")
+    if get_cgroup_manager() != 'systemd':
+        return (77, "requires systemd cgroup manager")
+
+    conf = base_config()
+    add_all_namespaces(conf, cgroupns=True)
+    conf['process']['args'] = ['/init', 'echo', 'hello']
+
+    if 'annotations' not in conf:
+        conf['annotations'] = {}
+    conf['annotations']['run.oci.systemd.subgroup'] = 'mysubgroup'
+
+    for invalid in ["../../../victim", "../escape", "a/../b"]:
+        conf['annotations']['run.oci.delegate-cgroup'] = invalid
+        try:
+            out, _ = run_and_get_output(conf, hide_stderr=True)
+            return -1
+        except Exception as e:
+            if hasattr(e, 'output') and e.output:
+                err = e.output.decode()
+                if "delegate-cgroup" in err:
+                    continue
+                logger.info("got error for delegate-cgroup '%s': %s", invalid, err)
+            else:
+                logger.info("got exception without output for delegate-cgroup '%s': %s", invalid, str(e))
+            return -1
+    return 0
+
 def test_annotation_systemd_force_cgroup_v1():
     """Test run.oci.systemd.force_cgroup_v1 annotation."""
     if not is_cgroup_v2_unified():
@@ -1544,6 +1577,7 @@ def test_cgroup_subcgroup_cleanup():
     "cgroup-create-without-resources": test_cgroup_create_without_resources,
     "annotation-systemd-subgroup": test_annotation_systemd_subgroup,
     "annotation-delegate-cgroup": test_annotation_delegate_cgroup,
+    "annotation-delegate-cgroup-dotdot": test_annotation_delegate_cgroup_dotdot,
     "annotation-systemd-force-cgroup-v1": test_annotation_systemd_force_cgroup_v1,
     "cgroup-v2-mount-options": test_cgroup_v2_mount_options,
     "cgroup-subcgroup-cleanup": test_cgroup_subcgroup_cleanup,
diff --git a/tests/test_start.py b/tests/test_start.py
index ec0c025db1..23c08267b4 100755
--- a/tests/test_start.py
+++ b/tests/test_start.py
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ def test_invalid_id():
     except Exception as e:
         if hasattr(e, 'output') and e.output:
             err = e.output.decode()
-            if "invalid character `/` in the ID" in err:
+            if "invalid character" in err and "container ID" in err:
                 return 0
             logger.info("got error: %s", err)
         else:
@@ -531,6 +531,26 @@ def test_invalid_id():
         return -1
     return 0
 
+def test_invalid_id_chars():
+    conf = base_config()
+    conf['process']['args'] = ['./init', 'echo', 'hello']
+    conf['process']['cwd'] = "/sbin"
+    add_all_namespaces(conf)
+    for invalid_id in [".", "..", ".foo", "_foo", "foo bar", "foo/bar"]:
+        try:
+            out, _ = run_and_get_output(conf, id_container=invalid_id)
+            return -1
+        except Exception as e:
+            if hasattr(e, 'output') and e.output:
+                err = e.output.decode()
+                if "invalid" in err.lower():
+                    continue
+                logger.info("got error for id '%s': %s", invalid_id, err)
+            else:
+                logger.info("got exception without output for id '%s': %s", invalid_id, str(e))
+            return -1
+    return 0
+
 def test_home_unknown_id():
     if is_rootless():
         return (77, "requires root privileges")
@@ -610,6 +630,7 @@ def test_systemd_cgroups_path_def_slice():
     "ioprio": test_ioprio,
     "run-keep": test_run_keep,
     "invalid-id": test_invalid_id,
+    "invalid-id-chars": test_invalid_id_chars,
     "home-unknown-id": test_home_unknown_id,
     "help": test_start_help,
     "systemd-cgroups-path-def-slice": test_systemd_cgroups_path_def_slice,