diff --git a/sonar-cxx-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/cxx/utils/CxxUtils.java b/sonar-cxx-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/cxx/utils/CxxUtils.java
index 7b2dc336fb..34794de314 100644
--- a/sonar-cxx-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/cxx/utils/CxxUtils.java
+++ b/sonar-cxx-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/cxx/utils/CxxUtils.java
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ public static String normalizePath(String filename) {
    * @return returns case sensitive full path
    */
   public static String normalizePathFull(String filename, String baseDir) {
-    String filePath = filename;   
     File targetfile = new java.io.File(filename);
-    if (targetfile.exists()) {
+    String filePath;
+    if (targetfile.isAbsolute()) {
       filePath = normalizePath(filename);
     } else {
       // RATS, CppCheck and Vera++ provide names like './file.cpp' - add source folder for index check