diff --git a/src/vmm_mad/remotes/kvm/migrate b/src/vmm_mad/remotes/kvm/migrate
index 4b1e92c2f4e..c45c21b36f6 100755
--- a/src/vmm_mad/remotes/kvm/migrate
+++ b/src/vmm_mad/remotes/kvm/migrate
@@ -76,10 +76,10 @@ create_target_disk_img() {
     local DEST_HOST=$1
     local QEMU_IMG_PATH="$2"
     local SIZE="$3"
-    local DISK_DIR=$(dirname $QEMU_IMG_PATH)
+    local DISK_DIR="$(dirname $QEMU_IMG_PATH)"
 
     ssh_monitor_and_log "$DEST_HOST" \
-        "mkdir -p $DISK_DIR && qemu-img create -f qcow2 '$QEMU_IMG_PATH' '$SIZE'" \
+        "mkdir -p '$DISK_DIR' && qemu-img create -f qcow2 '$QEMU_IMG_PATH' '$SIZE'" \
         "Failed to create new qcow image for $QEMU_IMG_PATH"
 }