diff --git a/caddyconfig/httpcaddyfile/addresses.go b/caddyconfig/httpcaddyfile/addresses.go
index c9057ab4..1121776d 100644
--- a/caddyconfig/httpcaddyfile/addresses.go
+++ b/caddyconfig/httpcaddyfile/addresses.go
@@ -329,8 +329,12 @@ func (st *ServerType) listenersForServerBlockAddress(sblock serverBlock, addr Ad
 	// use a map to prevent duplication
 	listeners := map[string]map[string]struct{}{}
 	for _, lnCfgVal := range lnCfgVals {
-		for _, lnHost := range lnCfgVal.addresses {
-			networkAddr, err := caddy.ParseNetworkAddressFromHostPort(lnHost, lnPort)
+		for _, lnAddr := range lnCfgVal.addresses {
+			lnNetw, lnHost, _, err := caddy.SplitNetworkAddress(lnAddr)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("splitting listener address: %v", err)
+			}
+			networkAddr, err := caddy.ParseNetworkAddress(caddy.JoinNetworkAddress(lnNetw, lnHost, lnPort))
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("parsing network address: %v", err)
 			}
diff --git a/listeners.go b/listeners.go
index 3a2a5180..8a40d46e 100644
--- a/listeners.go
+++ b/listeners.go
@@ -305,25 +305,6 @@ func IsFdNetwork(netw string) bool {
 	return strings.HasPrefix(netw, "fd")
 }
 
-// normally we would simply append the port,
-// but if host is IPv6, we need to ensure it
-// is enclosed in [ ]; net.JoinHostPort does
-// this for us, but host might also have a
-// network type in front (e.g. "tcp/") leading
-// to "[tcp/::1]" which causes parsing failures
-// later; what we need is "tcp/[::1]", so we have
-// to split the network and host, then re-combine
-func ParseNetworkAddressFromHostPort(host, port string) (NetworkAddress, error) {
-	network, addr, ok := strings.Cut(host, "/")
-	if !ok {
-		addr = network
-		network = ""
-	}
-	addr = strings.Trim(addr, "[]") // IPv6
-	networkAddr := JoinNetworkAddress(network, addr, port)
-	return ParseNetworkAddress(networkAddr)
-}
-
 // ParseNetworkAddress parses addr into its individual
 // components. The input string is expected to be of
 // the form "network/host:port-range" where any part is
@@ -399,25 +380,28 @@ func SplitNetworkAddress(a string) (network, host, port string, err error) {
 	if slashFound {
 		network = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(beforeSlash))
 		a = afterSlash
+		if IsUnixNetwork(network) || IsFdNetwork(network) {
+			host = a
+			return
+		}
 	}
-	if IsUnixNetwork(network) || IsFdNetwork(network) {
-		host = a
-		return
-	}
+
 	host, port, err = net.SplitHostPort(a)
-	if err == nil || a == "" {
-		return
-	}
-	// in general, if there was an error, it was likely "missing port",
-	// so try adding a bogus port to take advantage of standard library's
-	// robust parser, then strip the artificial port before returning
-	// (don't overwrite original error though; might still be relevant)
-	var err2 error
-	host, port, err2 = net.SplitHostPort(a + ":0")
-	if err2 == nil {
-		err = nil
+	firstErr := err
+
+	if err != nil {
+		// in general, if there was an error, it was likely "missing port",
+		// so try removing square brackets around an IPv6 host, adding a bogus
+		// port to take advantage of standard library's robust parser, then
+		// strip the artificial port.
+		host, _, err = net.SplitHostPort(net.JoinHostPort(strings.Trim(a, "[]"), "0"))
 		port = ""
 	}
+
+	if err != nil {
+		err = errors.Join(firstErr, err)
+	}
+
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/listeners_test.go b/listeners_test.go
index f8a13caf..03945308 100644
--- a/listeners_test.go
+++ b/listeners_test.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ func TestSplitNetworkAddress(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{
 			input:     "",
-			expectErr: true,
+			expectHost: "",
 		},
 		{
 			input:      "foo",
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func TestSplitNetworkAddress(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 		{
 			input:     "::",
-			expectErr: true,
+			expectHost: "::",
 		},
 		{
 			input:      "[::]",
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func TestSplitNetworkAddress(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			input:         "udp/",
 			expectNetwork: "udp",
-			expectErr:     true,
+			expectHost:    "",
 		},
 		{
 			input:         "unix//foo/bar",
@@ -185,7 +185,8 @@ func TestParseNetworkAddress(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{
 			input:     "",
-			expectErr: true,
+			expectAddr: NetworkAddress{
+			},
 		},
 		{
 			input:          ":",
@@ -311,7 +312,8 @@ func TestParseNetworkAddressWithDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{
 			input:     "",
-			expectErr: true,
+			expectAddr: NetworkAddress{
+			},
 		},
 		{
 			input:          ":",