diff --git a/lib/std/mem.zig b/lib/std/mem.zig
index 311b5701a0e3..3b05a11f6b51 100644
--- a/lib/std/mem.zig
+++ b/lib/std/mem.zig
@@ -4418,6 +4418,59 @@ test "sliceAsBytes preserves pointer attributes" {
     try testing.expectEqual(in.alignment, out.alignment);
 }
 
+fn AbsorbSentinelReturnType(comptime Slice: type) type {
+    const info = @typeInfo(Slice).pointer;
+    assert(info.size == .slice);
+    return @Type(.{
+        .pointer = .{
+            .size = info.size,
+            .is_const = info.is_const,
+            .is_volatile = info.is_volatile,
+            .is_allowzero = info.is_allowzero,
+            .alignment = info.alignment,
+            .address_space = info.address_space,
+            .child = info.child,
+            .sentinel_ptr = null,
+        },
+    });
+}
+
+/// If the provided slice is not sentinel terminated, do nothing and return that slice.
+/// If it is sentinel-terminated, return a non-sentinel-terminated slice with the
+/// length increased by one to include the absorbed sentinel element.
+pub fn absorbSentinel(slice: anytype) AbsorbSentinelReturnType(@TypeOf(slice)) {
+    const info = @typeInfo(@TypeOf(slice)).pointer;
+    assert(info.size == .slice);
+    if (info.sentinel_ptr == null) {
+        return slice;
+    } else {
+        return slice.ptr[0 .. slice.len + 1];
+    }
+}
+
+test absorbSentinel {
+    {
+        var buffer: [3:0]u8 = .{ 1, 2, 3 };
+        const foo: [:0]const u8 = &buffer;
+        const bar: []const u8 = &buffer;
+        try testing.expectEqual([]const u8, @TypeOf(absorbSentinel(foo)));
+        try testing.expectEqual([]const u8, @TypeOf(absorbSentinel(bar)));
+        try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, &.{ 1, 2, 3, 0 }, absorbSentinel(foo));
+        try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, &.{ 1, 2, 3 }, absorbSentinel(bar));
+    }
+    {
+        var buffer: [3:0]u8 = .{ 1, 2, 3 };
+        const foo: [:0]u8 = &buffer;
+        const bar: []u8 = &buffer;
+        try testing.expectEqual([]u8, @TypeOf(absorbSentinel(foo)));
+        try testing.expectEqual([]u8, @TypeOf(absorbSentinel(bar)));
+        var expected_foo = [_]u8{ 1, 2, 3, 0 };
+        try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, &expected_foo, absorbSentinel(foo));
+        var expected_bar = [_]u8{ 1, 2, 3 };
+        try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, &expected_bar, absorbSentinel(bar));
+    }
+}
+
 /// Round an address down to the next (or current) aligned address.
 /// Unlike `alignForward`, `alignment` can be any positive number, not just a power of 2.
 pub fn alignForwardAnyAlign(comptime T: type, addr: T, alignment: T) T {
diff --git a/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig b/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig
index dc3e3f0325e4..44b02143a5ff 100644
--- a/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig
+++ b/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ pub fn resize(self: Allocator, allocation: anytype, new_len: usize) bool {
     if (allocation.len == 0) {
         return false;
     }
-    const old_memory = mem.sliceAsBytes(allocation);
+    const old_memory: []u8 = @constCast(@ptrCast(mem.absorbSentinel(allocation)));
     // I would like to use saturating multiplication here, but LLVM cannot lower it
     // on WebAssembly: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/issues/9660
     //const new_len_bytes = new_len *| @sizeOf(T);
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ pub fn remap(self: Allocator, allocation: anytype, new_len: usize) t: {
         new_memory.len = new_len;
         return new_memory;
     }
-    const old_memory = mem.sliceAsBytes(allocation);
+    const old_memory: []u8 = @constCast(@ptrCast(mem.absorbSentinel(allocation)));
     // I would like to use saturating multiplication here, but LLVM cannot lower it
     // on WebAssembly: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/issues/9660
     //const new_len_bytes = new_len *| @sizeOf(T);
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ pub fn reallocAdvanced(
         return @as([*]align(Slice.alignment) T, @ptrFromInt(ptr))[0..0];
     }
 
-    const old_byte_slice = mem.sliceAsBytes(old_mem);
+    const old_byte_slice: []u8 = @constCast(@ptrCast(mem.absorbSentinel(old_mem)));
     const byte_count = math.mul(usize, @sizeOf(T), new_n) catch return Error.OutOfMemory;
     // Note: can't set shrunk memory to undefined as memory shouldn't be modified on realloc failure
     if (self.rawRemap(old_byte_slice, .fromByteUnits(Slice.alignment), byte_count, return_address)) |p| {
@@ -421,12 +421,10 @@ pub fn reallocAdvanced(
 /// To free a single item, see `destroy`.
 pub fn free(self: Allocator, memory: anytype) void {
     const Slice = @typeInfo(@TypeOf(memory)).pointer;
-    const bytes = mem.sliceAsBytes(memory);
-    const bytes_len = bytes.len + if (Slice.sentinel() != null) @sizeOf(Slice.child) else 0;
-    if (bytes_len == 0) return;
-    const non_const_ptr = @constCast(bytes.ptr);
-    @memset(non_const_ptr[0..bytes_len], undefined);
-    self.rawFree(non_const_ptr[0..bytes_len], .fromByteUnits(Slice.alignment), @returnAddress());
+    const bytes: []u8 = @constCast(@ptrCast(mem.absorbSentinel(memory)));
+    if (bytes.len == 0) return;
+    @memset(bytes, undefined);
+    self.rawFree(bytes, .fromByteUnits(Slice.alignment), @returnAddress());
 }
 
 /// Copies `m` to newly allocated memory. Caller owns the memory.