diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/50322-openssl-path-error.yml b/changelogs/fragments/50322-openssl-path-error.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4debcb61000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/50322-openssl-path-error.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+- "openssl_* - fix error when ``path`` contains a file name without path."
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_certificate.py b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_certificate.py
index 89fdc203586..96c5bab43d0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_certificate.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_certificate.py
@@ -1041,7 +1041,7 @@ def main():
     if module.params['provider'] != 'assertonly' and module.params['csr_path'] is None:
         module.fail_json(msg='csr_path is required when provider is not assertonly')
 
-    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path'])
+    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path']) or '.'
     if not os.path.isdir(base_dir):
         module.fail_json(
             name=base_dir,
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_csr.py b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_csr.py
index 23bdbe340f8..d9eea9194cd 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_csr.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_csr.py
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ def main():
     except AttributeError:
         module.fail_json(msg='You need to have PyOpenSSL>=0.15 to generate CSRs')
 
-    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path'])
+    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path']) or '.'
     if not os.path.isdir(base_dir):
         module.fail_json(name=base_dir, msg='The directory %s does not exist or the file is not a directory' % base_dir)
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_dhparam.py b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_dhparam.py
index cdcb5f789e6..91304e4d3c9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_dhparam.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_dhparam.py
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ def main():
         add_file_common_args=True,
     )
 
-    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path'])
+    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path']) or '.'
     if not os.path.isdir(base_dir):
         module.fail_json(
             name=base_dir,
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_pkcs12.py b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_pkcs12.py
index 15bbde0b31e..9122766fe10 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_pkcs12.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_pkcs12.py
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ def main():
     if not pyopenssl_found:
         module.fail_json(msg='The python pyOpenSSL library is required')
 
-    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path'])
+    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path']) or '.'
     if not os.path.isdir(base_dir):
         module.fail_json(
             name=base_dir,
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_privatekey.py b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_privatekey.py
index ae2c30ad14d..6df58c0020b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_privatekey.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_privatekey.py
@@ -582,7 +582,7 @@ def main():
         ],
     )
 
-    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path'])
+    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path']) or '.'
     if not os.path.isdir(base_dir):
         module.fail_json(
             name=base_dir,
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_publickey.py b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_publickey.py
index 0f7d6af0442..8765daaba2f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_publickey.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/crypto/openssl_publickey.py
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ def main():
     if not pyopenssl_found:
         module.fail_json(msg='the python pyOpenSSL module is required')
 
-    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path'])
+    base_dir = os.path.dirname(module.params['path']) or '.'
     if not os.path.isdir(base_dir):
         module.fail_json(
             name=base_dir,