diff --git a/actions/add_disk.py b/actions/add_disk.py
index bbe79148..b1b36202 100755
--- a/actions/add_disk.py
+++ b/actions/add_disk.py
@@ -59,9 +59,13 @@ def add_device(request, device_path, bucket=None):
 
 
 def get_devices():
-    return [
-        os.path.realpath(path)
-        for path in action_get('osd-devices').split(' ')]
+    devices = []
+    for path in action_get('osd-devices').split(' '):
+        path = path.strip()
+        if os.path.isabs(path):
+            devices.append(path)
+
+    return devices
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/hooks/ceph_hooks.py b/hooks/ceph_hooks.py
index 0b1b1718..e2bcaeb5 100755
--- a/hooks/ceph_hooks.py
+++ b/hooks/ceph_hooks.py
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ def use_short_objects():
         if config('osd-format') in ('ext4'):
             return True
         for device in config('osd-devices'):
-            if not device.startswith('/dev'):
+            if device and not device.startswith('/dev'):
                 # TODO: determine format of directory based
                 #       OSD location
                 return True
@@ -412,12 +412,15 @@ def reformat_osd():
 
 
 def get_devices():
+    devices = []
     if config('osd-devices'):
-        devices = [
-            os.path.realpath(path)
-            for path in config('osd-devices').split(' ')]
-    else:
-        devices = []
+        for path in config('osd-devices').split(' '):
+            path = path.strip()
+            # Make sure its a device which is specified using an
+            # absolute path so that the current working directory
+            # or any relative path under this directory is not used
+            if os.path.isabs(path):
+                devices.append(os.path.realpath(path))
 
     # List storage instances for the 'osd-devices'
     # store declared for this charm too, and add
diff --git a/unit_tests/test_config.py b/unit_tests/test_config.py
index b4a85722..c3ae347e 100644
--- a/unit_tests/test_config.py
+++ b/unit_tests/test_config.py
@@ -72,6 +72,25 @@ class GetDevicesTestCase(test_utils.CharmTestCase):
         self.test_config.set("osd-devices", "{} {}".format(device1, device2))
         self.assertEqual([device1, device2], hooks.get_devices())
 
+    def test_get_devices_extra_spaces(self):
+        """
+        Multiple spaces do not result in additional devices.
+        """
+        device1 = os.path.join(self.tmp_dir, "device1")
+        device2 = os.path.join(self.tmp_dir, "device2")
+        self.test_config.set("osd-devices", "{}  {}".format(device1, device2))
+        self.assertEqual([device1, device2], hooks.get_devices())
+
+    def test_get_devices_non_absolute_path(self):
+        """
+        Charm does not allow relative paths as this may result in a path
+        on the root device/within the charm directory.
+        """
+        device1 = os.path.join(self.tmp_dir, "device1")
+        device2 = "foo"
+        self.test_config.set("osd-devices", "{} {}".format(device1, device2))
+        self.assertEqual([device1], hooks.get_devices())
+
     def test_get_devices_symlink(self):
         """
         If a symlink is specified in osd-devices, get_devices() resolves