diff --git a/oci/oci.go b/oci/oci.go
index 6c84ba3488..fdc1e06de2 100644
--- a/oci/oci.go
+++ b/oci/oci.go
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ import (
 	specs "github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
 )
 
+// TODO verify if this regex is correct for "a" (all); the docs (https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/v5.10/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v1/devices.rst) describe:
+//      "'all' means it applies to all types and all major and minor numbers", and shows an example
+//      that *only* passes `a` as value: `echo a > /sys/fs/cgroup/1/devices.allow, which would be
+//      the "implicit" equivalent of "a *:* rwm". Source-code also looks to confirm this, and returns
+//      early for "a" (all); https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/v5.10/security/device_cgroup.c#L614-L642
 // nolint: gosimple
 var deviceCgroupRuleRegex = regexp.MustCompile("^([acb]) ([0-9]+|\\*):([0-9]+|\\*) ([rwm]{1,3})$")
 
@@ -31,7 +36,7 @@ func SetCapabilities(s *specs.Spec, caplist []string) error {
 func AppendDevicePermissionsFromCgroupRules(devPermissions []specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup, rules []string) ([]specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup, error) {
 	for _, deviceCgroupRule := range rules {
 		ss := deviceCgroupRuleRegex.FindAllStringSubmatch(deviceCgroupRule, -1)
-		if len(ss[0]) != 5 {
+		if len(ss) == 0 || len(ss[0]) != 5 {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid device cgroup rule format: '%s'", deviceCgroupRule)
 		}
 		matches := ss[0]
diff --git a/oci/oci_test.go b/oci/oci_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37bc7c202e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/oci/oci_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+package oci
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
+	"gotest.tools/v3/assert"
+)
+
+func TestAppendDevicePermissionsFromCgroupRules(t *testing.T) {
+	ptr := func(i int64) *int64 { return &i }
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		doc         string
+		rule        string
+		expected    specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup
+		expectedErr string
+	}{
+		{
+			doc:         "empty rule",
+			rule:        "",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: ''`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "multiple spaces after first column",
+			rule:        "c 1:1  rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:1  rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "multiple spaces after second column",
+			rule:        "c  1:1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c  1:1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "leading spaces",
+			rule:        " c 1:1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: ' c 1:1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "trailing spaces",
+			rule:        "c 1:1 rwm ",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:1 rwm '`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "unknown device type",
+			rule:        "z 1:1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'z 1:1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "invalid device type",
+			rule:        "zz  1:1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'zz  1:1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "missing colon",
+			rule:        "c 11 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 11 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "invalid device major-minor",
+			rule:        "c a:a rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c a:a rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "negative major device",
+			rule:        "c -1:1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c -1:1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "negative minor device",
+			rule:        "c 1:-1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:-1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "missing permissions",
+			rule:        "c 1:1",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:1'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "invalid permissions",
+			rule:        "c 1:1 x",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:1 x'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "too many permissions",
+			rule:        "c 1:1 rwmrwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:1 rwmrwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "major out of range",
+			rule:        "c 18446744073709551616:1 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid major value in device cgroup rule format: 'c 18446744073709551616:1 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:         "minor out of range",
+			rule:        "c 1:18446744073709551616 rwm",
+			expectedErr: `invalid minor value in device cgroup rule format: 'c 1:18446744073709551616 rwm'`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "all (a) devices",
+			rule:     "a 1:1 rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "a", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "char (c) devices",
+			rule:     "c 1:1 rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "block (b) devices",
+			rule:     "b 1:1 rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "b", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "char device with rwm permissions",
+			rule:     "c 7:128 rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(7), Minor: ptr(128), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "wildcard major",
+			rule:     "c *:1 rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(-1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "wildcard minor",
+			rule:     "c 1:* rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(-1), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "wildcard major and minor",
+			rule:     "c *:* rwm",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(-1), Minor: ptr(-1), Access: "rwm"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "read (r) permission",
+			rule:     "c 1:1 r",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "r"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "write (w) permission",
+			rule:     "c 1:1 w",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "w"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "mknod (m) permission",
+			rule:     "c 1:1 m",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "m"},
+		},
+		{
+			doc:      "mknod (m) and read (r) permission",
+			rule:     "c 1:1 mr",
+			expected: specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{Allow: true, Type: "c", Major: ptr(1), Minor: ptr(1), Access: "mr"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		tc := tc
+		t.Run(tc.doc, func(t *testing.T) {
+			out, err := AppendDevicePermissionsFromCgroupRules([]specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{}, []string{tc.rule})
+			if tc.expectedErr != "" {
+				assert.Error(t, err, tc.expectedErr)
+				return
+			}
+			assert.NilError(t, err)
+			assert.DeepEqual(t, out, []specs.LinuxDeviceCgroup{tc.expected})
+		})
+	}
+}