Parece que somente caminhos relativos são permitidos; a mensagem de erro vem deste bloco:
/*
* Check for a leading '/' (absolute path) in the command to be executed,
* or attempts to back up out of the current directory,
* to protect against attacks. If any are
* found, error out. Naughty naughty crackers.
*/
if ((cmd[0] == '/') || (!strncmp(cmd, "../", 3))
|| (strstr(cmd, "/../") != NULL)) {
log_err("invalid command (%s)\n", cmd);
exit(104);
}