diff --git a/block/bdev.c b/block/bdev.c
index 85ce57bd2ae4f..c73326e806d71 100644
--- a/block/bdev.c
+++ b/block/bdev.c
@@ -1217,6 +1217,18 @@ int lookup_bdev(const char *pathname, dev_t *dev)
 	if (!may_open_dev(&path))
 		goto out_path_put;
 
+	/*
+	 * Reject a block device inode with i_rdev == 0.  A dev_t of 0 is
+	 * never valid for a block device: no real block device driver
+	 * registers major 0.  Fake block device inodes (e.g. fuse with
+	 * rootmode=S_IFBLK) can expose i_rdev == 0, and letting that
+	 * propagate would confuse superblock lookup and trigger warnings
+	 * in the device-to-superblock table (super_dev_register).
+	 */
+	error = -ENODEV;
+	if (!inode->i_rdev)
+		goto out_path_put;
+
 	*dev = inode->i_rdev;
 	error = 0;
 out_path_put: