diff --git a/src/helpers.rs b/src/helpers.rs
index 32edb107f36e..454f7d2c2f80 100644
--- a/src/helpers.rs
+++ b/src/helpers.rs
@@ -346,12 +346,12 @@ pub trait EvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx: 'mir>: crate::MiriEvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    fn read_os_string(&mut self, scalar: Scalar<Tag>) -> InterpResult<'tcx, OsString> {
+    fn read_os_string_from_c_string(&mut self, scalar: Scalar<Tag>) -> InterpResult<'tcx, OsString> {
         let bytes = self.eval_context_mut().memory.read_c_str(scalar)?;
         Ok(bytes_to_os_str(bytes)?.into())
     }
 
-    fn write_os_str(&mut self, os_str: &OsStr, ptr: Pointer<Tag>, size: u64) -> InterpResult<'tcx> {
+    fn write_os_str_to_c_string(&mut self, os_str: &OsStr, ptr: Pointer<Tag>, size: u64) -> InterpResult<'tcx> {
         let bytes = os_str_to_bytes(os_str)?;
         // If `size` is smaller or equal than `bytes.len()`, writing `bytes` plus the required null
         // terminator to memory using the `ptr` pointer would cause an overflow.
diff --git a/src/shims/env.rs b/src/shims/env.rs
index b2e0709557d5..7e2df4f985d1 100644
--- a/src/shims/env.rs
+++ b/src/shims/env.rs
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ pub trait EvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx: 'mir>: crate::MiriEvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx
         // If we cannot get the current directory, we return null
         match env::current_dir() {
             Ok(cwd) => {
-                if this.write_os_str(&OsString::from(cwd), buf, size).is_ok() {
+                if this.write_os_str_to_c_string(&OsString::from(cwd), buf, size).is_ok() {
                     return Ok(Scalar::Ptr(buf));
                 }
                 let erange = this.eval_libc("ERANGE")?;
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ pub trait EvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx: 'mir>: crate::MiriEvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx
 
         this.check_no_isolation("chdir")?;
 
-        let path = this.read_os_string(this.read_scalar(path_op)?.not_undef()?)?;
+        let path = this.read_os_string_from_c_string(this.read_scalar(path_op)?.not_undef()?)?;
 
         match env::set_current_dir(path) {
             Ok(()) => Ok(0),
diff --git a/src/shims/fs.rs b/src/shims/fs.rs
index d4f9fde24e1e..7cc574f05f13 100644
--- a/src/shims/fs.rs
+++ b/src/shims/fs.rs
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ pub trait EvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx: 'mir>: crate::MiriEvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx
             throw_unsup_format!("unsupported flags {:#x}", flag & !mirror);
         }
 
-        let path: std::path::PathBuf = this.read_os_string(this.read_scalar(path_op)?.not_undef()?)?.into();
+        let path: std::path::PathBuf = this.read_os_string_from_c_string(this.read_scalar(path_op)?.not_undef()?)?.into();
 
         let fd = options.open(path).map(|file| {
             let mut fh = &mut this.machine.file_handler;
@@ -210,11 +210,7 @@ pub trait EvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx: 'mir>: crate::MiriEvalContextExt<'mir, 'tcx
 
         this.check_no_isolation("unlink")?;
 
-        let path_bytes = this
-            .memory
-            .read_c_str(this.read_scalar(path_op)?.not_undef()?)?;
-        let path = std::str::from_utf8(path_bytes)
-            .map_err(|_| err_unsup_format!("{:?} is not a valid utf-8 string", path_bytes))?;
+        let path = this.read_os_string_from_c_string(this.read_scalar(path_op)?.not_undef()?)?;
 
         let result = remove_file(path).map(|_| 0);