diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-core-internal.h b/libnm-core/nm-core-internal.h
index 8028283ead..957970b37e 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-core-internal.h
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-core-internal.h
@@ -143,11 +143,11 @@ gboolean _nm_utils_check_file (const char *filename,
                                struct stat *out_st,
                                GError **error);
 
-char *_nm_utils_check_module_file (const char *name,
-                                   int check_owner,
-                                   NMUtilsCheckFilePredicate check_file,
-                                   gpointer user_data,
-                                   GError **error);
+gboolean _nm_utils_check_module_file (const char *name,
+                                      int check_owner,
+                                      NMUtilsCheckFilePredicate check_file,
+                                      gpointer user_data,
+                                      GError **error);
 
 #define NM_UTILS_UUID_TYPE_LEGACY            0
 #define NM_UTILS_UUID_TYPE_VARIANT3          1
diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-utils.c b/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
index 4c8478557c..8b44a32bc8 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
@@ -2501,87 +2501,46 @@ _nm_utils_check_file (const char *filename,
 }
 
 
-static char *
-_resolve_module_file_name (const char *file_name)
-{
-	char *name = NULL;
-
-	/* g_module_open() is searching for the exact file to load,
-	 * but it doesn't give us a hook to check file permissions
-	 * and ownership. Reimplement the file name resolution.
-	 *
-	 * Copied from g_module_open(). */
-
-	/* check whether we have a readable file right away */
-	if (g_file_test (file_name, G_FILE_TEST_IS_REGULAR))
-		name = g_strdup (file_name);
-
-	/* try completing file name with standard library suffix */
-	if (   !name
-	    && !g_str_has_suffix (file_name, "." G_MODULE_SUFFIX)) {
-		name = g_strconcat (file_name, "." G_MODULE_SUFFIX, NULL);
-		if (!g_file_test (name, G_FILE_TEST_IS_REGULAR)) {
-			g_free (name);
-			name = NULL;
-		}
-	}
-
-	/* g_module_open() would also try appending ".la". We don't do that
-	 * because we require the user to specify a shared library (directly). */
-
-	return name;
-}
-
-char *
+gboolean
 _nm_utils_check_module_file (const char *name,
                              int check_owner,
                              NMUtilsCheckFilePredicate check_file,
                              gpointer user_data,
                              GError **error)
 {
-	gs_free char *name_resolved = NULL;
-	char *s;
-
 	if (!g_path_is_absolute (name)) {
 		g_set_error (error,
 		             NM_VPN_PLUGIN_ERROR,
 		             NM_VPN_PLUGIN_ERROR_FAILED,
 		             _("path is not absolute (%s)"), name);
-		return NULL;
+		return FALSE;
 	}
 
-	name_resolved = _resolve_module_file_name (name);
-
-	if (!name_resolved) {
+	/* check whether we have a readable file right away */
+	if (!g_file_test (name, G_FILE_TEST_IS_REGULAR)) {
 		g_set_error (error,
 		             NM_VPN_PLUGIN_ERROR,
 		             NM_VPN_PLUGIN_ERROR_FAILED,
-		             _("could not resolve plugin path (%s)"), name);
-		return NULL;
+		             _("could not find plugin (%s)"), name);
+		return FALSE;
 	}
 
-	if (g_str_has_suffix (name_resolved, ".la")) {
+	if (g_str_has_suffix (name, ".la")) {
 		/* g_module_open() treats files that end with .la special.
 		 * We don't want to parse the libtool archive. Just error out. */
 		g_set_error (error,
 		             NM_VPN_PLUGIN_ERROR,
 		             NM_VPN_PLUGIN_ERROR_FAILED,
-		             _("libtool archives are not supported (%s)"), name_resolved);
-		return NULL;
+		             _("libtool archives are not supported (%s)"), name);
+		return FALSE;
 	}
 
-	if (!_nm_utils_check_file (name_resolved,
-	                           check_owner,
-	                           check_file,
-	                           user_data,
-	                           NULL,
-	                           error)) {
-		return NULL;
-	}
-
-	s = name_resolved;
-	name_resolved = NULL;
-	return s;
+	return _nm_utils_check_file (name,
+	                             check_owner,
+	                             check_file,
+	                             user_data,
+	                             NULL,
+	                             error);
 }
 
 /**********************************************************************************************/
diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-vpn-editor-plugin.c b/libnm-core/nm-vpn-editor-plugin.c
index fd79fd3bcd..80200f41a8 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-vpn-editor-plugin.c
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-vpn-editor-plugin.c
@@ -119,17 +119,12 @@ nm_vpn_editor_plugin_load_from_file  (const char *plugin_filename,
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (plugin_filename && *plugin_filename, NULL);
 
-	if (g_path_is_absolute (plugin_filename)) {
-		gs_free char *module_filename = NULL;
-
-		module_filename = _nm_utils_check_module_file (plugin_filename,
-		                                               check_owner,
-		                                               check_file,
-		                                               user_data,
-		                                               &local);
-		if (module_filename)
-			module = g_module_open (module_filename, G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY | G_MODULE_BIND_LOCAL);
-	}
+	if (_nm_utils_check_module_file (plugin_filename,
+		                             check_owner,
+		                             check_file,
+		                             user_data,
+		                             &local))
+		module = g_module_open (plugin_filename, G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY | G_MODULE_BIND_LOCAL);
 
 	if (!module) {
 		if (local) {