diff --git a/namedev.c b/namedev.c
index e474b48e57..de1b206180 100644
--- a/namedev.c
+++ b/namedev.c
@@ -399,7 +399,10 @@ static int do_callout(struct sysfs_class_device *class_dev, struct udevice *udev
 		if (dev->type != CALLOUT)
 			continue;
 
-		if (sysfs_device) {
+		if (dev->bus[0] != '\0') {
+			/* as the user specified a bus, we must match it up */
+			if (!sysfs_device)
+				continue;
 			dbg("dev->bus='%s' sysfs_device->bus='%s'", dev->bus, sysfs_device->bus);
 			if (strcasecmp(dev->bus, sysfs_device->bus) != 0)
 				continue;
diff --git a/test/udev-test.pl b/test/udev-test.pl
index ea1d8611ef..9538cba2d1 100644
--- a/test/udev-test.pl
+++ b/test/udev-test.pl
@@ -215,13 +215,22 @@ CALLOUT, BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="/bin/echo -n node link1 link2", ID="node *", NAME=
 EOF
 	},
 	{
-		desc     => "callout for device with no bus",
+		desc     => "invalid callout for device with no bus",
 		subsys   => "tty",
 		devpath  => "class/tty/console",
 		expected => "TTY" ,
 		conf     => <<EOF
 CALLOUT, BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="/bin/echo -n foo", ID="foo", NAME="foo"
 REPLACE, KERNEL="console", NAME="TTY"
+EOF
+	},
+	{
+		desc     => "valid callout for device with no bus",
+		subsys   => "tty",
+		devpath  => "class/tty/console",
+		expected => "foo" ,
+		conf     => <<EOF
+CALLOUT, PROGRAM="/bin/echo -n foo", ID="foo", NAME="foo"
 EOF
 	},
 	{