diff --git a/container/src/root/common/utility.hh b/container/src/root/common/utility.hh
index c43642e..9bb107e 100644
--- a/container/src/root/common/utility.hh
+++ b/container/src/root/common/utility.hh
@@ -300,6 +300,20 @@ class PluggablePath
   //! \return NPI reference
   auto& parse()
   {
+    // Invalid characters
+    const std::regex regex{"[a-zA-Z0-9/_\\-\\.]+"};
+    const std::string msg{"invalid characters in path"};
+
+    if (!m_path.repo().empty())
+      throw_ex_if<type::RuntimeError>(
+          !std::regex_match(m_path.repo(), regex), msg);
+
+    if (!m_path.custom().empty())
+      throw_ex_if<type::RuntimeError>(
+          !std::regex_match(m_path.custom(), regex), msg);
+
+    throw_ex_if<type::RuntimeError>(!std::regex_match(m_pseudo, regex), msg);
+
     // Parse out pseudo tag
     auto pos = m_pseudo.find('/');
     throw_ex_if<type::RuntimeError>(!pos, "no pseudo tag");