diff --git a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/absLoc.ml b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/absLoc.ml
index 4247667a2..08330065c 100644
--- a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/absLoc.ml
+++ b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/absLoc.ml
@@ -124,9 +124,11 @@ module Loc = struct
         Allocsite.pp_paren ~paren fmt a
     | Field (Allocsite (Allocsite.Symbol (SP.Deref (SP.Deref_CPointer, p))), f)
     | Field (Allocsite (Allocsite.Known {path= Some (SP.Deref (SP.Deref_CPointer, p))}), f) ->
-        F.fprintf fmt "%a->%s" (SP.pp_partial_paren ~paren:true) p (Typ.Fieldname.to_flat_string f)
+        BufferOverrunField.pp ~pp_lhs:(SP.pp_partial_paren ~paren:true)
+          ~pp_lhs_alone:(SP.pp_pointer ~paren) ~sep:"->" fmt p f
     | Field (l, f) ->
-        F.fprintf fmt "%a.%s" (pp_paren ~paren:true) l (Typ.Fieldname.to_flat_string f)
+        BufferOverrunField.pp ~pp_lhs:(pp_paren ~paren:true) ~pp_lhs_alone:(pp_paren ~paren)
+          ~sep:"." fmt l f
 
 
   let pp = pp_paren ~paren:false
diff --git a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/bufferOverrunField.ml b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/bufferOverrunField.ml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eb981afcc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/bufferOverrunField.ml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+(*
+ * Copyright (c) 2018-present, Facebook, Inc.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *)
+open! IStd
+module F = Format
+
+(**
+  If fn is empty, prints [pp_lhs_alone lhs]
+  Otherwise prints [pp_lhs lhs ^ sep ^ fn]
+*)
+let pp ~pp_lhs ~pp_lhs_alone ~sep f lhs fn =
+  let fieldname = Typ.Fieldname.to_flat_string fn in
+  if String.is_empty fieldname then pp_lhs_alone f lhs
+  else F.fprintf f "%a%s%s" pp_lhs lhs sep fieldname
diff --git a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.ml b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.ml
index a7f629009..f8179cfd8 100644
--- a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.ml
+++ b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.ml
@@ -60,17 +60,23 @@ module SymbolPath = struct
     | Deref (Deref_ArrayIndex, p) ->
         F.fprintf fmt "%a[*]" (pp_partial_paren ~paren:true) p
     | Deref (Deref_CPointer, p) ->
-        if paren then F.fprintf fmt "(" ;
-        F.fprintf fmt "*%a" (pp_partial_paren ~paren:false) p ;
-        if paren then F.fprintf fmt ")"
+        pp_pointer ~paren fmt p
     | Field (fn, Deref (Deref_CPointer, p)) ->
-        F.fprintf fmt "%a->%s" (pp_partial_paren ~paren:true) p (Typ.Fieldname.to_flat_string fn)
+        BufferOverrunField.pp ~pp_lhs:(pp_partial_paren ~paren:true)
+          ~pp_lhs_alone:(pp_pointer ~paren) ~sep:"->" fmt p fn
     | Field (fn, p) ->
-        F.fprintf fmt "%a.%s" (pp_partial_paren ~paren:true) p (Typ.Fieldname.to_flat_string fn)
+        BufferOverrunField.pp ~pp_lhs:(pp_partial_paren ~paren:true)
+          ~pp_lhs_alone:(pp_partial_paren ~paren) ~sep:"." fmt p fn
     | Callsite {cs} ->
         F.fprintf fmt "%s" (Typ.Procname.to_simplified_string ~withclass:true (CallSite.pname cs))
 
 
+  and pp_pointer ~paren fmt p =
+    if paren then F.fprintf fmt "(" ;
+    F.fprintf fmt "*%a" (pp_partial_paren ~paren:false) p ;
+    if paren then F.fprintf fmt ")"
+
+
   let pp_partial = pp_partial_paren ~paren:false
 
   let pp fmt = function
diff --git a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.mli b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.mli
index 11a9789e9..e5a2deaf5 100644
--- a/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.mli
+++ b/infer/src/bufferoverrun/symb.mli
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ module SymbolPath : sig
 
   val pp_partial_paren : paren:bool -> F.formatter -> partial -> unit
 
+  val pp_pointer : paren:bool -> F.formatter -> partial -> unit
+
   val of_pvar : Pvar.t -> partial
 
   val of_callsite : ret_typ:Typ.t -> CallSite.t -> partial