diff --git a/src/libstrongswan/plugins/plugin_loader.c b/src/libstrongswan/plugins/plugin_loader.c
index 5dfeb873f..abcb84440 100644
--- a/src/libstrongswan/plugins/plugin_loader.c
+++ b/src/libstrongswan/plugins/plugin_loader.c
@@ -50,23 +50,6 @@ struct private_plugin_loader_t {
 	linked_list_t *names;
 };
 
-/**
- * Replace '-' with '_' to use str as identifier.
- */
-static char* sanitize(char *str)
-{
-	char *pos = str;
-	while (pos && *pos)
-	{
-		if (*pos == '-')
-		{
-			*pos = '_';
-		}
-		pos++;
-	}
-	return str;
-}
-
 #ifdef MONOLITHIC
 /**
  * load a single plugin in monolithic mode
@@ -83,7 +66,7 @@ static plugin_t* load_plugin(private_plugin_loader_t *this,
 	{
 		return NULL;
 	}
-	sanitize(create);
+	translate(create, "-", "_");
 	constructor = dlsym(RTLD_DEFAULT, create);
 	if (constructor == NULL)
 	{
@@ -120,7 +103,7 @@ static plugin_t* load_plugin(private_plugin_loader_t *this,
 	{
 		return NULL;
 	}
-	sanitize(create);
+	translate(create, "-", "_");
 	if (lib->integrity)
 	{
 		if (!lib->integrity->check_file(lib->integrity, name, file))
diff --git a/src/libstrongswan/utils.c b/src/libstrongswan/utils.c
index b1b860351..fd313843e 100644
--- a/src/libstrongswan/utils.c
+++ b/src/libstrongswan/utils.c
@@ -116,6 +116,28 @@ void *memstr(const void *haystack, const char *needle, size_t n)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Described in header.
+ */
+char* translate(char *str, const char *from, const char *to)
+{
+	char *pos = str;
+	if (strlen(from) != strlen(to))
+	{
+		return str;
+	}
+	while (pos && *pos)
+	{
+		char *match;
+		if ((match = strchr(from, *pos)) != NULL)
+		{
+			*pos = to[match - from];
+		}
+		pos++;
+	}
+	return str;
+}
+
 /**
  * Described in header.
  */
diff --git a/src/libstrongswan/utils.h b/src/libstrongswan/utils.h
index d3500258f..607d077f7 100644
--- a/src/libstrongswan/utils.h
+++ b/src/libstrongswan/utils.h
@@ -310,6 +310,14 @@ void memxor(u_int8_t dest[], u_int8_t src[], size_t n);
  */
 void *memstr(const void *haystack, const char *needle, size_t n);
 
+/**
+ * Translates the characters in the given string, searching for characters
+ * in 'from' and mapping them to characters in 'to'.
+ * The two characters sets 'from' and 'to' must contain the same number of
+ * characters.
+ */
+char *translate(char *str, const char *from, const char *to);
+
 /**
  * Creates a directory and all required parent directories.
  *