diff --git a/libcontainer/README.md b/libcontainer/README.md
index a791ca2d249..6803ef56c5b 100644
--- a/libcontainer/README.md
+++ b/libcontainer/README.md
@@ -155,8 +155,7 @@ config := &configs.Config{
 		Parent: "system",
 		Resources: &configs.Resources{
 			MemorySwappiness: nil,
-			AllowAllDevices:  nil,
-			AllowedDevices:   configs.DefaultAllowedDevices,
+			Devices:          specconv.AllowedDevices,
 		},
 	},
 	MaskPaths: []string{
@@ -166,7 +165,7 @@ config := &configs.Config{
 	ReadonlyPaths: []string{
 		"/proc/sys", "/proc/sysrq-trigger", "/proc/irq", "/proc/bus",
 	},
-	Devices:  configs.DefaultAutoCreatedDevices,
+	Devices:  specconv.AllowedDevices,
 	Hostname: "testing",
 	Mounts: []*configs.Mount{
 		{
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices.go
index 036c8db773e..164bf326f4b 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices.go
@@ -31,44 +31,24 @@ func (s *DevicesGroup) Set(path string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	devices := cgroup.Resources.Devices
-	if len(devices) > 0 {
-		for _, dev := range devices {
-			file := "devices.deny"
-			if dev.Allow {
-				file = "devices.allow"
-			}
-			if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, file, dev.CgroupString()); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-		}
-		return nil
+	// The devices list is a whitelist, so we must first deny all devices.
+	// XXX: This is incorrect for device list updates as it will result in
+	//      spurrious errors in the container, but we will solve that
+	//      separately.
+	if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, "devices.deny", "a"); err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
-	if cgroup.Resources.AllowAllDevices != nil {
-		if *cgroup.Resources.AllowAllDevices == false {
-			if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, "devices.deny", "a"); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-			for _, dev := range cgroup.Resources.AllowedDevices {
-				if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, "devices.allow", dev.CgroupString()); err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-			}
-			return nil
-		}
 
-		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, "devices.allow", "a"); err != nil {
-			return err
+	devices := cgroup.Resources.Devices
+	for _, dev := range devices {
+		file := "devices.deny"
+		if dev.Allow {
+			file = "devices.allow"
 		}
-	}
-
-	for _, dev := range cgroup.Resources.DeniedDevices {
-		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, "devices.deny", dev.CgroupString()); err != nil {
+		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(path, file, dev.CgroupString()); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices_test.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices_test.go
index 648f4a2ff47..90b9f08418b 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/devices_test.go
@@ -9,8 +9,16 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
-var (
-	allowedDevices = []*configs.Device{
+func TestDevicesSetAllow(t *testing.T) {
+	helper := NewCgroupTestUtil("devices", t)
+	defer helper.cleanup()
+
+	helper.writeFileContents(map[string]string{
+		"devices.allow": "",
+		"devices.deny":  "",
+	})
+
+	helper.CgroupData.config.Resources.Devices = []*configs.Device{
 		{
 			Path:        "/dev/zero",
 			Type:        'c',
@@ -18,82 +26,28 @@ var (
 			Minor:       5,
 			Permissions: "rwm",
 			FileMode:    0666,
+			Allow:       true,
 		},
 	}
-	allowedList   = "c 1:5 rwm"
-	deniedDevices = []*configs.Device{
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/null",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       1,
-			Minor:       3,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-	}
-	deniedList = "c 1:3 rwm"
-)
-
-func TestDevicesSetAllow(t *testing.T) {
-	helper := NewCgroupTestUtil("devices", t)
-	defer helper.cleanup()
-
-	helper.writeFileContents(map[string]string{
-		"devices.deny": "a",
-	})
-	allowAllDevices := false
-	helper.CgroupData.config.Resources.AllowAllDevices = &allowAllDevices
-	helper.CgroupData.config.Resources.AllowedDevices = allowedDevices
-	devices := &DevicesGroup{}
-	if err := devices.Set(helper.CgroupPath, helper.CgroupData.config); err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-
-	value, err := fscommon.GetCgroupParamString(helper.CgroupPath, "devices.allow")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse devices.allow - %s", err)
-	}
 
-	if value != allowedList {
-		t.Fatal("Got the wrong value, set devices.allow failed.")
-	}
-
-	// When AllowAllDevices is nil, devices.allow file should not be modified.
-	helper.CgroupData.config.Resources.AllowAllDevices = nil
-	if err := devices.Set(helper.CgroupPath, helper.CgroupData.config); err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	value, err = fscommon.GetCgroupParamString(helper.CgroupPath, "devices.allow")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse devices.allow - %s", err)
-	}
-	if value != allowedList {
-		t.Fatal("devices policy shouldn't have changed on AllowedAllDevices=nil.")
-	}
-}
-
-func TestDevicesSetDeny(t *testing.T) {
-	helper := NewCgroupTestUtil("devices", t)
-	defer helper.cleanup()
-
-	helper.writeFileContents(map[string]string{
-		"devices.allow": "a",
-	})
-
-	allowAllDevices := true
-	helper.CgroupData.config.Resources.AllowAllDevices = &allowAllDevices
-	helper.CgroupData.config.Resources.DeniedDevices = deniedDevices
 	devices := &DevicesGroup{}
 	if err := devices.Set(helper.CgroupPath, helper.CgroupData.config); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
+	// The default deny rule must be written.
 	value, err := fscommon.GetCgroupParamString(helper.CgroupPath, "devices.deny")
 	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse devices.deny - %s", err)
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse devices.deny: %s", err)
+	}
+	if value[0] != 'a' {
+		t.Errorf("Got the wrong value (%q), set devices.deny failed.", value)
 	}
 
-	if value != deniedList {
-		t.Fatal("Got the wrong value, set devices.deny failed.")
+	// Permitted rule must be written.
+	if value, err := fscommon.GetCgroupParamString(helper.CgroupPath, "devices.allow"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse devices.allow: %s", err)
+	} else if value != "c 1:5 rwm" {
+		t.Errorf("Got the wrong value (%q), set devices.allow failed.", value)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/devices.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/devices.go
index 6e45c78791d..96d6daeb68f 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/devices.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/devices.go
@@ -39,26 +39,10 @@ func canSkipEBPFError(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
 }
 
 func setDevices(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	// XXX: This is currently a white-list (but all callers pass a blacklist of
+	//      devices). This is bad for a whole variety of reasons, but will need
+	//      to be fixed with co-ordinated effort with downstreams.
 	devices := cgroup.Devices
-	// never set by OCI specconv
-	if allowAllDevices := cgroup.Resources.AllowAllDevices; allowAllDevices != nil {
-		if *allowAllDevices == true {
-			if len(cgroup.Resources.DeniedDevices) != 0 {
-				return errors.New("libcontainer: can't use DeniedDevices together with AllowAllDevices")
-			}
-			return nil
-		}
-		// *allowAllDevices=false is still used by the integration test
-		for _, ad := range cgroup.Resources.AllowedDevices {
-			d := *ad
-			d.Allow = true
-			devices = append(devices, &d)
-		}
-	}
-	if len(cgroup.Resources.DeniedDevices) != 0 {
-		// never set by OCI specconv
-		return errors.New("libcontainer DeniedDevices is not supported, use Devices")
-	}
 	insts, license, err := devicefilter.DeviceFilter(devices)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -68,6 +52,17 @@ func setDevices(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
 		return errors.Errorf("cannot get dir FD for %s", dirPath)
 	}
 	defer unix.Close(dirFD)
+	// XXX: This code is currently incorrect when it comes to updating an
+	//      existing cgroup with new rules (new rulesets are just appended to
+	//      the program list because this uses BPF_F_ALLOW_MULTI). If we didn't
+	//      use BPF_F_ALLOW_MULTI we could actually atomically swap the
+	//      programs.
+	//
+	//      The real issue is that BPF_F_ALLOW_MULTI makes it hard to have a
+	//      race-free blacklist because it acts as a whitelist by default, and
+	//      having a deny-everything program cannot be overriden by other
+	//      programs. You could temporarily insert a deny-everything program
+	//      but that would result in spurrious failures during updates.
 	if _, err := ebpf.LoadAttachCgroupDeviceFilter(insts, license, dirFD); err != nil {
 		if !canSkipEBPFError(cgroup) {
 			return err
diff --git a/libcontainer/configs/cgroup_linux.go b/libcontainer/configs/cgroup_linux.go
index d1cb7318ad2..1d2dca439ae 100644
--- a/libcontainer/configs/cgroup_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/configs/cgroup_linux.go
@@ -41,14 +41,7 @@ type Cgroup struct {
 }
 
 type Resources struct {
-	// If this is true allow access to any kind of device within the container.  If false, allow access only to devices explicitly listed in the allowed_devices list.
-	// Deprecated
-	AllowAllDevices *bool `json:"allow_all_devices,omitempty"`
-	// Deprecated
-	AllowedDevices []*Device `json:"allowed_devices,omitempty"`
-	// Deprecated
-	DeniedDevices []*Device `json:"denied_devices,omitempty"`
-
+	// Devices is the set of access rules for devices in the container.
 	Devices []*Device `json:"devices"`
 
 	// Memory limit (in bytes)
diff --git a/libcontainer/configs/device_defaults.go b/libcontainer/configs/device_defaults.go
deleted file mode 100644
index e4f423c523f..00000000000
--- a/libcontainer/configs/device_defaults.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,111 +0,0 @@
-// +build linux
-
-package configs
-
-var (
-	// DefaultSimpleDevices are devices that are to be both allowed and created.
-	DefaultSimpleDevices = []*Device{
-		// /dev/null and zero
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/null",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       1,
-			Minor:       3,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/zero",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       1,
-			Minor:       5,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/full",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       1,
-			Minor:       7,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-
-		// consoles and ttys
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/tty",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       5,
-			Minor:       0,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-
-		// /dev/urandom,/dev/random
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/urandom",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       1,
-			Minor:       9,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/random",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       1,
-			Minor:       8,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-			FileMode:    0666,
-		},
-	}
-	DefaultAllowedDevices = append([]*Device{
-		// allow mknod for any device
-		{
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       Wildcard,
-			Minor:       Wildcard,
-			Permissions: "m",
-		},
-		{
-			Type:        'b',
-			Major:       Wildcard,
-			Minor:       Wildcard,
-			Permissions: "m",
-		},
-
-		{
-			Path:        "/dev/console",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       5,
-			Minor:       1,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-		},
-		// /dev/pts/ - pts namespaces are "coming soon"
-		{
-			Path:        "",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       136,
-			Minor:       Wildcard,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-		},
-		{
-			Path:        "",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       5,
-			Minor:       2,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-		},
-
-		// tuntap
-		{
-			Path:        "",
-			Type:        'c',
-			Major:       10,
-			Minor:       200,
-			Permissions: "rwm",
-		},
-	}, DefaultSimpleDevices...)
-	DefaultAutoCreatedDevices = append([]*Device{}, DefaultSimpleDevices...)
-)
diff --git a/libcontainer/integration/template_test.go b/libcontainer/integration/template_test.go
index 5f7cab53b67..3f3a08115fb 100644
--- a/libcontainer/integration/template_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/integration/template_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package integration
 
 import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/specconv"
 
 	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
@@ -20,7 +21,6 @@ const defaultMountFlags = unix.MS_NOEXEC | unix.MS_NOSUID | unix.MS_NODEV
 // it uses a network strategy of just setting a loopback interface
 // and the default setup for devices
 func newTemplateConfig(rootfs string) *configs.Config {
-	allowAllDevices := false
 	return &configs.Config{
 		Rootfs: rootfs,
 		Capabilities: &configs.Capabilities{
@@ -116,8 +116,7 @@ func newTemplateConfig(rootfs string) *configs.Config {
 			Path: "integration/test",
 			Resources: &configs.Resources{
 				MemorySwappiness: nil,
-				AllowAllDevices:  &allowAllDevices,
-				AllowedDevices:   configs.DefaultAllowedDevices,
+				Devices:          specconv.AllowedDevices,
 			},
 		},
 		MaskPaths: []string{
@@ -127,7 +126,7 @@ func newTemplateConfig(rootfs string) *configs.Config {
 		ReadonlyPaths: []string{
 			"/proc/sys", "/proc/sysrq-trigger", "/proc/irq", "/proc/bus",
 		},
-		Devices:  configs.DefaultAutoCreatedDevices,
+		Devices:  specconv.AllowedDevices,
 		Hostname: "integration",
 		Mounts: []*configs.Mount{
 			{
diff --git a/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go b/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go
index 62fad7edeae..40a5686d2ff 100644
--- a/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go
@@ -606,11 +606,14 @@ func bindMountDeviceNode(dest string, node *configs.Device) error {
 
 // Creates the device node in the rootfs of the container.
 func createDeviceNode(rootfs string, node *configs.Device, bind bool) error {
+	if node.Path == "" {
+		// The node only exists for cgroup reasons, ignore it here.
+		return nil
+	}
 	dest := filepath.Join(rootfs, node.Path)
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0755); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-
 	if bind {
 		return bindMountDeviceNode(dest, node)
 	}
diff --git a/libcontainer/specconv/spec_linux.go b/libcontainer/specconv/spec_linux.go
index f6212b83378..055d5ad4b47 100644
--- a/libcontainer/specconv/spec_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/specconv/spec_linux.go
@@ -48,7 +48,21 @@ var mountPropagationMapping = map[string]int{
 	"":            0,
 }
 
-// AllowedDevices is exposed for devicefilter_test.go
+// AllowedDevices is the set of devices which are automatically included for
+// all containers.
+//
+// XXX (cyphar)
+//    This behaviour is at the very least "questionable" (if not outright
+//    wrong) according to the runtime-spec.
+//
+//    Yes, we have to include certain devices other than the ones the user
+//    specifies, but several devices listed here are not part of the spec
+//    (including "mknod for any device"?!). In addition, these rules are
+//    appended to the user-provided set which means that users *cannot disable
+//    this behaviour*.
+//
+//    ... unfortunately I'm too scared to change this now because who knows how
+//    many people depend on this (incorrect and arguably insecure) behaviour.
 var AllowedDevices = []*configs.Device{
 	// allow mknod for any device
 	{
@@ -420,7 +434,6 @@ func CreateCgroupConfig(opts *CreateOpts) (*configs.Cgroup, error) {
 
 	// In rootless containers, any attempt to make cgroup changes is likely to fail.
 	// libcontainer will validate this but ignores the error.
-	c.Resources.AllowedDevices = AllowedDevices
 	if spec.Linux != nil {
 		r := spec.Linux.Resources
 		if r != nil {