diff --git a/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c b/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c
index 22e3d0aa16..c377d51504 100644
--- a/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c
+++ b/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c
@@ -560,6 +560,12 @@ libzfs_init(void)
 		return (NULL);
 	}
 
+#if defined(HAVE_SPL) && !defined(HAVE_GPL_ONLY_SYMBOLS)
+	/* If we don't have access to GPL-only symbols then we may not
+	 * use the udev APIs, therefore we must mknod the device ourselves. */
+	(void)mknod(ZFS_DEV, S_IFCHR | 0600, makedev(ZFS_MAJOR, 0));
+#endif
+
 	if ((hdl->libzfs_fd = open(ZFS_DEV, O_RDWR)) < 0) {
 		free(hdl);
 		return (NULL);