diff --git a/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c b/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c
index 35abbfa..c7de5e0 100644
--- a/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c
+++ b/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c
@@ -77,8 +77,11 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 #ifdef __OpenBSD__
 	err_if(unveil("/dev/urandom", "r") == -1);
 	err_if(unveil(filename, flags == O_RDONLY ? "r" : "rw") == -1);
-	err_if(pledge(flags == O_RDONLY ? "stdio rpath" : "stdio rpath wpath",
-	    NULL) == -1);
+	if (flags == O_RDONLY) {
+		err_if(pledge("stdio rpath", NULL) == -1);
+	} else {
+		err_if(pledge("stdio rpath wpath", NULL) == -1);
+	}
 #endif
 	openFiles(filename);
 #ifdef __OpenBSD__