diff --git a/apps/files_external/lib/Command/Notify.php b/apps/files_external/lib/Command/Notify.php
index cd1889264b3e3..9f42d974ecfec 100644
--- a/apps/files_external/lib/Command/Notify.php
+++ b/apps/files_external/lib/Command/Notify.php
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ private function logUpdate(IChange $change, OutputInterface $output): void {
 	}
 
 	private function getStorageIds(int $mountId, string $path): array {
-		$pathHash = md5(trim((string)\OC_Util::normalizeUnicode($path), '/'));
+		$pathHash = md5(trim(\OC_Util::normalizeUnicode($path), '/'));
 		$qb = $this->connection->getQueryBuilder();
 		return $qb
 			->select('storage_id', 'user_id')
@@ -176,12 +176,12 @@ private function getStorageIds(int $mountId, string $path): array {
 			->innerJoin('m', 'filecache', 'f', $qb->expr()->eq('m.storage_id', 'f.storage'))
 			->where($qb->expr()->eq('mount_id', $qb->createNamedParameter($mountId, IQueryBuilder::PARAM_INT)))
 			->andWhere($qb->expr()->eq('path_hash', $qb->createNamedParameter($pathHash, IQueryBuilder::PARAM_STR)))
-			->execute()
+			->executeQuery()
 			->fetchAll();
 	}
 
 	private function updateParent(array $storageIds, string $parent): int {
-		$pathHash = md5(trim((string)\OC_Util::normalizeUnicode($parent), '/'));
+		$pathHash = md5(trim(\OC_Util::normalizeUnicode($parent), '/'));
 		$qb = $this->connection->getQueryBuilder();
 		return $qb
 			->update('filecache')
diff --git a/build/psalm-baseline.xml b/build/psalm-baseline.xml
index 49ce3c7b0549c..011072a99e774 100644
--- a/build/psalm-baseline.xml
+++ b/build/psalm-baseline.xml
@@ -1766,7 +1766,6 @@
     </InvalidNullableReturnType>
     <InvalidScalarArgument>
       <code><![CDATA[$path]]></code>
-      <code><![CDATA[\OC_Util::normalizeUnicode($path)]]></code>
     </InvalidScalarArgument>
     <NullableReturnStatement>
       <code><![CDATA[null]]></code>
@@ -2026,11 +2025,6 @@
     </NoInterfaceProperties>
   </file>
   <file src="lib/private/Files/Storage/Wrapper/Encoding.php">
-    <InvalidArgument>
-      <code><![CDATA[\Normalizer::FORM_C]]></code>
-      <code><![CDATA[\Normalizer::FORM_C]]></code>
-      <code><![CDATA[\Normalizer::FORM_D]]></code>
-    </InvalidArgument>
     <UndefinedInterfaceMethod>
       <code><![CDATA[$this->namesCache]]></code>
       <code><![CDATA[$this->namesCache]]></code>
diff --git a/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php b/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php
index f82082d3d129f..31d7df8960d21 100644
--- a/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php
+++ b/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php
@@ -937,18 +937,18 @@ public static function getTheme() {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Normalize a unicode string
+	 * Normalize a unicode string.
 	 *
 	 * @param string $value a not normalized string
-	 * @return bool|string
+	 * @return string The normalized string or the input if the normalization failed
 	 */
-	public static function normalizeUnicode($value) {
+	public static function normalizeUnicode(string $value): string {
 		if (Normalizer::isNormalized($value)) {
 			return $value;
 		}
 
 		$normalizedValue = Normalizer::normalize($value);
-		if ($normalizedValue === null || $normalizedValue === false) {
+		if ($normalizedValue === false) {
 			\OCP\Server::get(LoggerInterface::class)->warning('normalizing failed for "' . $value . '"', ['app' => 'core']);
 			return $value;
 		}