diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-table.c b/drivers/md/dm-table.c
index 6dd56afa048c..98be040cf958 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-table.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-table.c
@@ -428,14 +428,23 @@ int dm_get_device(struct dm_target *ti, const char *path, fmode_t mode,
 {
 	int r;
 	dev_t dev;
+	unsigned int major, minor;
+	char dummy;
 	struct dm_dev_internal *dd;
 	struct dm_table *t = ti->table;
 
 	BUG_ON(!t);
 
-	dev = dm_get_dev_t(path);
-	if (!dev)
-		return -ENODEV;
+	if (sscanf(path, "%u:%u%c", &major, &minor, &dummy) == 2) {
+		/* Extract the major/minor numbers */
+		dev = MKDEV(major, minor);
+		if (MAJOR(dev) != major || MINOR(dev) != minor)
+			return -EOVERFLOW;
+	} else {
+		dev = dm_get_dev_t(path);
+		if (!dev)
+			return -ENODEV;
+	}
 
 	dd = find_device(&t->devices, dev);
 	if (!dd) {