diff --git a/include/spdk/bdev.h b/include/spdk/bdev.h
index 4e76415dd..3978ea42d 100644
--- a/include/spdk/bdev.h
+++ b/include/spdk/bdev.h
@@ -411,8 +411,8 @@ bool spdk_bdev_has_write_cache(const struct spdk_bdev *bdev);
  * \param bdev Block device to query.
  * \return Pointer to UUID.
  *
- * Not all bdevs will have a UUID; in this case, the returned UUID will be
- * the nil UUID (all bytes zero).
+ * All bdevs will have a UUID, but not all UUIDs will be persistent across
+ * application runs.
  */
 const struct spdk_uuid *spdk_bdev_get_uuid(const struct spdk_bdev *bdev);
 
diff --git a/include/spdk/bdev_module.h b/include/spdk/bdev_module.h
index ac6549f9f..1af89306d 100644
--- a/include/spdk/bdev_module.h
+++ b/include/spdk/bdev_module.h
@@ -293,7 +293,8 @@ struct spdk_bdev {
 	/**
 	 * UUID for this bdev.
 	 *
-	 * Fill with zeroes if no uuid is available.
+	 * Fill with zeroes if no uuid is available. The bdev layer
+	 * will automatically populate this if necessary.
 	 */
 	struct spdk_uuid uuid;
 
diff --git a/lib/bdev/bdev.c b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
index cbb9b5f35..d6d0791bc 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/bdev.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
@@ -4022,6 +4022,11 @@ spdk_bdev_init(struct spdk_bdev *bdev)
 	bdev->internal.qd_poller = NULL;
 	bdev->internal.qos = NULL;
 
+	/* If the user didn't specify a uuid, generate one. */
+	if (spdk_mem_all_zero(&bdev->uuid, sizeof(bdev->uuid))) {
+		spdk_uuid_generate(&bdev->uuid);
+	}
+
 	if (spdk_bdev_get_buf_align(bdev) > 1) {
 		if (bdev->split_on_optimal_io_boundary) {
 			bdev->optimal_io_boundary = spdk_min(bdev->optimal_io_boundary,
diff --git a/test/spdkcli/match_files/spdkcli_details_vhost.test.match b/test/spdkcli/match_files/spdkcli_details_vhost.test.match
index 757d2d398..735771cf2 100644
--- a/test/spdkcli/match_files/spdkcli_details_vhost.test.match
+++ b/test/spdkcli/match_files/spdkcli_details_vhost.test.match
@@ -26,5 +26,6 @@
     "unmap": $(S),
     "write": $(S),
     "write_zeroes": $(S)
-  }
+  },
+  "uuid": "$(S)"
 }