diff --git a/src/or/routerlist.c b/src/or/routerlist.c
index c4b2949cd6..5e013d4a0b 100644
--- a/src/or/routerlist.c
+++ b/src/or/routerlist.c
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ router_reload_networkstatus(void)
   entries = tor_listdir(filename);
   SMARTLIST_FOREACH(entries, const char *, fn, {
       char buf[DIGEST_LEN];
+      if (fn[0] == '.') /* skip . and .. */
+        continue;
       if (strlen(fn) != HEX_DIGEST_LEN ||
           base16_decode(buf, sizeof(buf), fn, strlen(fn))) {
         log_fn(LOG_INFO,