diff --git a/package/makedevs/makedevs.c b/package/makedevs/makedevs.c
index 7092b1475e..bcf0e0f000 100644
--- a/package/makedevs/makedevs.c
+++ b/package/makedevs/makedevs.c
@@ -601,6 +601,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			dev_t rdev;
 			unsigned i;
 			char *full_name_inc;
+			struct stat st;
 
 			if (type == 'p') {
 				mode |= S_IFIFO;
@@ -622,10 +623,23 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			for (i = start; i <= start + count; i++) {
 				sprintf(full_name_inc, count ? "%s%u" : "%s", full_name, i);
 				rdev = makedev(major, minor + (i - start) * increment);
-				if (mknod(full_name_inc, mode, rdev) < 0) {
+				if (stat(full_name_inc, &st) == 0) {
+					if ((mode & S_IFMT) != (st.st_mode & S_IFMT)) {
+						bb_error_msg("line %d: node %s exists but is of wrong file type", linenum, full_name_inc);
+						ret = EXIT_FAILURE;
+						continue;
+					}
+					if (st.st_rdev != rdev) {
+						bb_error_msg("line %d: node %s exists but is wrong device number", linenum, full_name_inc);
+						ret = EXIT_FAILURE;
+						continue;
+					}
+				} else if (mknod(full_name_inc, mode, rdev) < 0) {
 					bb_perror_msg("line %d: can't create node %s", linenum, full_name_inc);
 					ret = EXIT_FAILURE;
-				} else if (chown(full_name_inc, uid, gid) < 0) {
+					continue;
+				}
+				if (chown(full_name_inc, uid, gid) < 0) {
 					bb_perror_msg("line %d: can't chown %s", linenum, full_name_inc);
 					ret = EXIT_FAILURE;
 				} else if (chmod(full_name_inc, mode) < 0) {