diff --git a/lib/blob/blobstore.c b/lib/blob/blobstore.c
index 164bef2b2..7798b1dad 100644
--- a/lib/blob/blobstore.c
+++ b/lib/blob/blobstore.c
@@ -1480,6 +1480,13 @@ spdk_bs_init(struct spdk_bs_dev *dev, struct spdk_bs_opts *o,
 
 	SPDK_TRACELOG(SPDK_TRACE_BLOB, "Initializing blobstore on dev %p\n", dev);
 
+	if ((sizeof(struct spdk_blob_md_page) % dev->blocklen) != 0) {
+		SPDK_ERRLOG("unsupported dev block length of %d\n",
+			    dev->blocklen);
+		cb_fn(cb_arg, NULL, -EINVAL);
+		return;
+	}
+
 	if (o) {
 		opts = *o;
 	} else {
diff --git a/test/unit/lib/blob/blob.c/blob_ut.c b/test/unit/lib/blob/blob.c/blob_ut.c
index 52eb4c1f8..00ec81d64 100644
--- a/test/unit/lib/blob/blob.c/blob_ut.c
+++ b/test/unit/lib/blob/blob.c/blob_ut.c
@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@ blob_init(void)
 
 	init_dev(&dev);
 
+	/* should fail for an unsupported blocklen */
+	dev.blocklen = 500;
+	spdk_bs_init(&dev, NULL, bs_op_with_handle_complete, NULL);
+	CU_ASSERT(g_bserrno == -EINVAL);
+
+	init_dev(&dev);
 	spdk_bs_init(&dev, NULL, bs_op_with_handle_complete, NULL);
 	CU_ASSERT(g_bserrno == 0);
 	SPDK_CU_ASSERT_FATAL(g_bs != NULL);