diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index c6c010f881..76ff63c14d 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -272,10 +272,10 @@ static int http_options(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	if (!strcmp("http.sslversion", var))
 		return git_config_string(&ssl_version, var, value);
 	if (!strcmp("http.sslcert", var))
-		return git_config_string(&ssl_cert, var, value);
+		return git_config_pathname(&ssl_cert, var, value);
 #if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x070903
 	if (!strcmp("http.sslkey", var))
-		return git_config_string(&ssl_key, var, value);
+		return git_config_pathname(&ssl_key, var, value);
 #endif
 #if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x070908
 	if (!strcmp("http.sslcapath", var))