diff --git a/lib/device/dev-io.c b/lib/device/dev-io.c
index 735441f19..33b9345ee 100644
--- a/lib/device/dev-io.c
+++ b/lib/device/dev-io.c
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ static int _dev_get_size_dev(struct device *dev, uint64_t *size)
 	int fd = dev->bcache_fd;
 	int do_close = 0;
 
+	if (dm_list_empty(&dev->aliases))
+		return 0;
+
 	if (dev->size_seqno == _dev_size_seqno) {
 		log_very_verbose("%s: using cached size %" PRIu64 " sectors",
 				 name, dev->size);
diff --git a/lib/label/hints.c b/lib/label/hints.c
index 48fb661b4..349d5aaef 100644
--- a/lib/label/hints.c
+++ b/lib/label/hints.c
@@ -419,6 +419,9 @@ static int _dev_in_hint_hash(struct cmd_context *cmd, struct device *dev)
 {
 	uint64_t devsize = 0;
 
+	if (dm_list_empty(&dev->aliases))
+		return 0;
+
 	if (!cmd->filter->passes_filter(cmd, cmd->filter, dev, "regex"))
 		return 0;