diff --git a/framework/contrib/hit/parse.cc b/framework/contrib/hit/parse.cc
index fe3260583e99..d6ac2fc43967 100644
--- a/framework/contrib/hit/parse.cc
+++ b/framework/contrib/hit/parse.cc
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ Node::findInner(const std::string & path, const std::string & prefix)
     else
       fullpath = prefix + "/" + child->path();
 
+    fullpath = pathNorm(fullpath);
     if (fullpath == path)
       return child;
     else if (path.find(fullpath) == std::string::npos)
diff --git a/unit/src/HitTests.C b/unit/src/HitTests.C
index fb2e8fc2c252..1f217ea71882 100644
--- a/unit/src/HitTests.C
+++ b/unit/src/HitTests.C
@@ -252,6 +252,12 @@ TEST(HitTests, ParseFields)
        "foo",
        "barbaz",
        hit::Field::Kind::String},
+      {"path-normalize-find #12313",
+       "[foo][/bar]baz=42[][]",
+       "foo/bar/baz",
+       "42",
+       hit::Field::Kind::Int},
+
   };
 
   for (size_t i = 0; i < sizeof(cases) / sizeof(ValCase); i++)