diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 9ca3712e1..559185825 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ linux-2.6 (2.6.32-11) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
       (Closes: #576442)
     - Where a device has both a UUID and a label, prefer to identify it by
       UUID, consistent with fresh installations
+    - Do not use device labels including certain unsafe characters
+      (Closes: #576537)
   * iwlwifi: Fix repeated warnings about tfds_in_queue (Closes: #574526)
   * eeepc-laptop: Disable CPU speed control on 701 and 702 since it can
     cause the system to hang (Closes: #559578)
diff --git a/debian/linux-base.postinst b/debian/linux-base.postinst
index 93fa5c2af..c3219fe76 100644
--- a/debian/linux-base.postinst
+++ b/debian/linux-base.postinst
@@ -1230,12 +1230,15 @@ sub scan_devices {
     }
 
     # Discard all labels and UUIDs(!) that are ambiguous.
+    # Discard all labels with 'unsafe' characters (escaped by blkid using
+    # backslashes) as they will not be usable in all configuration files.
     # Sort each device's IDs in reverse lexical order so that UUIDs are
     # preferred.
     for my $bdev (keys(%bdev_map)) {
 	@{$bdev_map{$bdev}->{ids}} =
 	    sort({$b cmp $a}
-		 grep({ $#{$id_map{$_}} == 0 } @{$bdev_map{$bdev}->{ids}}));
+		 grep({ @{$id_map{$_}} == 1 && $_ !~ /\\/ }
+		      @{$bdev_map{$bdev}->{ids}}));
     }
 
     # Add persistent aliases for CD/DVD/BD drives