diff --git a/src/file_storage.cpp b/src/file_storage.cpp
index 01d069144..954b93b32 100644
--- a/src/file_storage.cpp
+++ b/src/file_storage.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <functional>
 #include <set>
+#include <atomic>
 
 #if defined(TORRENT_WINDOWS) || defined(TORRENT_OS2)
 #define TORRENT_SEPARATOR '\\'
@@ -663,7 +664,9 @@ namespace {
 
 		// TODO: 3 this is a hack to retain ABI compatibility with 1.2.1
 		// in next major release, make this return by value
-		static std::string ret;
+		static std::string storage[4];
+		static std::atomic<size_t> counter{0};
+		std::string& ret = storage[(counter++) % 4];
 		ret.reserve(m_name.size() + link.size() + 1);
 		ret.assign(m_name);
 		append_path(ret, link);
diff --git a/test/test_file_storage.cpp b/test/test_file_storage.cpp
index 415cf6d89..ea86aa03c 100644
--- a/test/test_file_storage.cpp
+++ b/test/test_file_storage.cpp
@@ -753,6 +753,28 @@ TORRENT_TEST(sanitize_symlinks_circular)
 	TEST_EQUAL(fs.symlink(file_index_t{2}), "test" SEP "2");
 }
 
+TORRENT_TEST(query_symlinks)
+{
+	file_storage fs;
+	fs.set_piece_length(1024);
+	fs.add_file("test/0", 0, file_storage::flag_symlink, 0, "0");
+	fs.add_file("test/1", 0, file_storage::flag_symlink, 0, "1");
+	fs.add_file("test/2", 0, file_storage::flag_symlink, 0, "2");
+	fs.add_file("test/3", 0, file_storage::flag_symlink, 0, "3");
+
+	auto const& ret1 = fs.symlink(file_index_t{0});
+	auto const& ret2 = fs.symlink(file_index_t{1});
+	auto const& ret3 = fs.symlink(file_index_t{2});
+	auto const& ret4 = fs.symlink(file_index_t{3});
+
+	TEST_CHECK(ret1 != ret2);
+	TEST_CHECK(ret1 != ret3);
+	TEST_CHECK(ret1 != ret4);
+	TEST_CHECK(ret2 != ret3);
+	TEST_CHECK(ret2 != ret4);
+	TEST_CHECK(ret3 != ret4);
+}
+
 // TODO: test file attributes
 // TODO: test symlinks
 // TODO: test reorder_file (make sure internal_file_entry::swap() is used)