diff --git a/libdm/libdevmapper.h b/libdm/libdevmapper.h
index 09e3fcc4b..fe2e410bd 100644
--- a/libdm/libdevmapper.h
+++ b/libdm/libdevmapper.h
@@ -1297,24 +1297,29 @@ int dm_stats_get_group_descriptor(const struct dm_stats *dms,
  * filesystem and optionally place them into a group.
  *
  * File descriptor fd must reference a regular file, open for reading,
- * in a local file system that supports the FIEMAP ioctl and that
+ * in a local file system that supports the FIEMAP ioctl, and that
  * returns data describing the physical location of extents.
  *
  * The file descriptor can be closed by the caller following the call
  * to dm_stats_create_regions_from_fd().
  *
- * The function returns a pointer to an array of uint64_t containing
- * the IDs of the newly created regions. The array is terminated by the
- * value DM_STATS_REGIONS_ALL and should be freed using dm_free() when
- * no longer required.
- *
  * Unless nogroup is non-zero the regions will be placed into a group
- * and the group alias is set to the value supplied.
+ * and the group alias set to the value supplied (if alias is NULL no
+ * group alias will be assigned).
+ *
+ * On success the function returns a pointer to an array of uint64_t
+ * containing the IDs of the newly created regions. The region_id
+ * array is terminated by the value DM_STATS_REGION_NOT_PRESENT and
+ * should be freed using dm_free() when no longer required. On error
+ * NULL is returned.
+ *
+ * Following a call to dm_stats_create_regions_from_fd() the handle
+ * is guaranteed to be in a listed state, and to contain any region
+ * and group identifiers created by the operation.
  *
  * The group_id for the new group is equal to the region_id value in
  * the first array element.
  *
- * File mapped histograms will be supported in a future version.
  */
 uint64_t *dm_stats_create_regions_from_fd(struct dm_stats *dms, int fd,
 					  int group, int precise,
diff --git a/libdm/libdm-stats.c b/libdm/libdm-stats.c
index 1cabd9a83..34870e367 100644
--- a/libdm/libdm-stats.c
+++ b/libdm/libdm-stats.c
@@ -4323,8 +4323,8 @@ static uint64_t *_stats_create_file_regions(struct dm_stats *dms, int fd,
 					    struct dm_histogram *bounds,
 					    int precise, uint64_t *count)
 {
+	uint64_t *regions = NULL, i, max_region;
 	struct _extent *extents = NULL;
-	uint64_t *regions = NULL, i;
 	char *hist_arg = NULL;
 	struct statfs fsbuf;
 	struct stat buf;
@@ -4390,11 +4390,22 @@ static uint64_t *_stats_create_file_regions(struct dm_stats *dms, int fd,
 	return regions;
 
 out_remove:
-	/* clean up regions after create failure */
-	for (--i; i != DM_STATS_REGION_NOT_PRESENT; i--)
-		if (!dm_stats_delete_region(dms, regions[i]))
+	/* New region creation may begin to fail part-way through creating
+	 * a set of file mapped regions: in this case we need to roll back
+	 * the regions that were already created and return the handle to
+	 * a consistent state. A listed handle is required for this: use a
+	 * single list operation and call _stats_delete_region() directly
+	 * to avoid a @stats_list ioctl and list parsing for each region.
+	 */
+	dm_stats_list(dms, NULL);
+
+	max_region = i;
+	for (i = max_region - 1; i < max_region; i++)
+		if (!_stats_delete_region(dms, regions[i]))
 			log_error("Could not delete region " FMTu64 ".", i);
 
+	*count = 0;
+
 out:
 	dm_pool_free(dms->mem, extents);
 	dm_free(hist_arg);
@@ -4402,7 +4413,6 @@ out:
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-
 uint64_t *dm_stats_create_regions_from_fd(struct dm_stats *dms, int fd,
 					  int group, int precise,
 					  struct dm_histogram *bounds,