diff --git a/drivers/base/core.c b/drivers/base/core.c
index c5edb00938f6..a119479fe3f4 100644
--- a/drivers/base/core.c
+++ b/drivers/base/core.c
@@ -106,6 +106,16 @@ int device_links_read_lock_held(void)
 #endif
 #endif /* !CONFIG_SRCU */
 
+static bool device_is_ancestor(struct device *dev, struct device *target)
+{
+	while (target->parent) {
+		target = target->parent;
+		if (dev == target)
+			return true;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
 /**
  * device_is_dependent - Check if one device depends on another one
  * @dev: Device to check dependencies for.
@@ -119,7 +129,12 @@ static int device_is_dependent(struct device *dev, void *target)
 	struct device_link *link;
 	int ret;
 
-	if (dev == target)
+	/*
+	 * The "ancestors" check is needed to catch the case when the target
+	 * device has not been completely initialized yet and it is still
+	 * missing from the list of children of its parent device.
+	 */
+	if (dev == target || device_is_ancestor(dev, target))
 		return 1;
 
 	ret = device_for_each_child(dev, target, device_is_dependent);