diff --git a/src/bin/pg_combinebackup/pg_combinebackup.c b/src/bin/pg_combinebackup/pg_combinebackup.c
index 60e62d03b19..4197cfeadef 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_combinebackup/pg_combinebackup.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_combinebackup/pg_combinebackup.c
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ check_control_files(int n_backups, char **backup_dirs)
 
 		controlpath = psprintf("%s/%s", backup_dirs[i], "global/pg_control");
 		pg_log_debug("reading \"%s\"", controlpath);
-		control_file = get_controlfile(backup_dirs[i], &crc_ok);
+		control_file = get_controlfile_by_exact_path(controlpath, &crc_ok);
 
 		/* Control file contents not meaningful if CRC is bad. */
 		if (!crc_ok)
diff --git a/src/common/controldata_utils.c b/src/common/controldata_utils.c
index 92e8fed6b2e..82309b25107 100644
--- a/src/common/controldata_utils.c
+++ b/src/common/controldata_utils.c
@@ -50,10 +50,25 @@
  */
 ControlFileData *
 get_controlfile(const char *DataDir, bool *crc_ok_p)
+{
+	char		ControlFilePath[MAXPGPATH];
+
+	snprintf(ControlFilePath, MAXPGPATH, "%s/global/pg_control", DataDir);
+
+	return get_controlfile_by_exact_path(ControlFilePath, crc_ok_p);
+}
+
+/*
+ * get_controlfile_by_exact_path()
+ *
+ * As above, but the caller specifies the path to the control file itself,
+ * rather than the path to the data directory.
+ */
+ControlFileData *
+get_controlfile_by_exact_path(const char *ControlFilePath, bool *crc_ok_p)
 {
 	ControlFileData *ControlFile;
 	int			fd;
-	char		ControlFilePath[MAXPGPATH];
 	pg_crc32c	crc;
 	int			r;
 #ifdef FRONTEND
@@ -64,7 +79,6 @@ get_controlfile(const char *DataDir, bool *crc_ok_p)
 	Assert(crc_ok_p);
 
 	ControlFile = palloc_object(ControlFileData);
-	snprintf(ControlFilePath, MAXPGPATH, "%s/global/pg_control", DataDir);
 
 #ifdef FRONTEND
 	INIT_CRC32C(last_crc);
diff --git a/src/include/common/controldata_utils.h b/src/include/common/controldata_utils.h
index 04da70e87b2..6e263ce0de0 100644
--- a/src/include/common/controldata_utils.h
+++ b/src/include/common/controldata_utils.h
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 #include "catalog/pg_control.h"
 
 extern ControlFileData *get_controlfile(const char *DataDir, bool *crc_ok_p);
+extern ControlFileData *get_controlfile_by_exact_path(const char *ControlFilePath,
+													  bool *crc_ok_p);
 extern void update_controlfile(const char *DataDir,
 							   ControlFileData *ControlFile, bool do_sync);