diff --git a/helpers/helpers_emba_prepare.sh b/helpers/helpers_emba_prepare.sh
index 9cd62535..c3b870e0 100755
--- a/helpers/helpers_emba_prepare.sh
+++ b/helpers/helpers_emba_prepare.sh
@@ -698,15 +698,14 @@ detect_root_dir_helper() {
     done
   fi
 
-  mapfile -t lROOTx_PATH_ARR < <(find "${lSEARCH_PATH}" -xdev \( -path "*/sbin" -o -path "*/bin" -o -path "*/lib" -o -path "*/etc" -o -path "*/root" -o -path "*/dev" -o -path "*/opt" -o -path "*/proc" -o -path "*/lib64" -o -path "*/boot" -o -path "*/home" \) -exec dirname {} \; | sort | uniq -c | sort -r)
   # currently not working: mapfile -t lROOTx_PATH_ARR < <(grep ";${lSEARCH_PATH}.*ELF" "${P99_CSV_LOG}" | grep "/bin/\|/lib/\|/etc/\|/root/\|/dev/\|/opt/\|/proc/\|/lib64\|/boot/\|/home/" | cut -d ';' -f2 | grep "${lSEARCH_PATH}" | sort -u || true)
-  for lR_PATH in "${lROOTx_PATH_ARR[@]}"; do
-    lCNT="$(awk '{print $1}' <<<"${lR_PATH}")" # field 1
+  # Stream and parse candidates with a shell builtin. Storing the entire list
+  # and spawning two awk processes per candidate is costly on large trees.
+  while IFS=' ' read -r lCNT lR_PATH; do
     if [[ "${lCNT}" -lt 5 ]]; then
       # we only use paths with more then 4 matches as possible root path
       continue
     fi
-    lR_PATH=$(awk '{print $2}' <<<"${lR_PATH}") # field 2
     if [[ -d "${lR_PATH}" ]]; then
       ROOT_PATH+=("${lR_PATH}")
       if [[ -z "${lMECHANISM}" ]]; then
@@ -715,7 +714,7 @@ detect_root_dir_helper() {
         lMECHANISM="${lMECHANISM} / dir names"
       fi
     fi
-  done
+  done < <(find "${lSEARCH_PATH}" -xdev \( -path "*/sbin" -o -path "*/bin" -o -path "*/lib" -o -path "*/etc" -o -path "*/root" -o -path "*/dev" -o -path "*/opt" -o -path "*/proc" -o -path "*/lib64" -o -path "*/boot" -o -path "*/home" \) -exec dirname {} \; | sort | uniq -c | sort -r)
 
   if [[ ${#ROOT_PATH[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
     export RTOS=1
diff --git a/tests/helpers/prepare_helpers.bats b/tests/helpers/prepare_helpers.bats
index fd072960..0fb907c5 100644
--- a/tests/helpers/prepare_helpers.bats
+++ b/tests/helpers/prepare_helpers.bats
@@ -24,6 +24,24 @@ teardown() {
   teardown_emba_test_env
 }
 
+@test "detect_root_dir_helper handles strict-mode IFS and paths containing spaces" {
+  local lROOT_PATH="${LOG_DIR}/firmware root"
+  export P99_CSV_LOG="${CSV_DIR}/p99_prepare_analyzer.csv"
+  IFS=$'\n\t'
+  ROOT_PATH=()
+  mkdir -p "${lROOT_PATH}"/{bin,etc,home,lib,sbin}
+  touch "${P99_CSV_LOG}"
+
+  print_output() { :; }
+  write_link() { :; }
+
+  detect_root_dir_helper "${LOG_DIR}"
+
+  [ "${RTOS}" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "${#ROOT_PATH[@]}" -eq 1 ]
+  [ "${ROOT_PATH[0]}" = "${lROOT_PATH}" ]
+}
+
 @test "convert_timeformat converts days to seconds" {
   result="$(convert_timeformat "2d")"
   [ "${result}" = "$((2 * 24 * 3600))" ]