diff --git a/internal/config/image/builder.go b/internal/config/image/builder.go
index 7acd3ba0b..a2e29e776 100644
--- a/internal/config/image/builder.go
+++ b/internal/config/image/builder.go
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ func New(opt ...Option) (CUDA, error) {
 	if b.logger == nil {
 		b.logger = logger.New()
 	}
-
 	if b.env == nil {
 		b.env = make(map[string]string)
 	}
@@ -81,6 +80,20 @@ func WithAcceptEnvvarUnprivileged(acceptEnvvarUnprivileged bool) Option {
 	}
 }
 
+func WithAnnotations(annotations map[string]string) Option {
+	return func(b *builder) error {
+		b.annotations = annotations
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
+func WithAnnotationsPrefixes(annotationsPrefixes []string) Option {
+	return func(b *builder) error {
+		b.annotationsPrefixes = annotationsPrefixes
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
 // WithDisableRequire sets the disable require option.
 func WithDisableRequire(disableRequire bool) Option {
 	return func(b *builder) error {
diff --git a/internal/config/image/cuda_image.go b/internal/config/image/cuda_image.go
index b16e3fedf..c295d105d 100644
--- a/internal/config/image/cuda_image.go
+++ b/internal/config/image/cuda_image.go
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ const (
 type CUDA struct {
 	logger logger.Interface
 
+	annotations  map[string]string
 	env          map[string]string
 	isPrivileged bool
 	mounts       []specs.Mount
 
+	annotationsPrefixes            []string
 	acceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts bool
 	acceptEnvvarUnprivileged       bool
 	preferredVisibleDeviceEnvVars  []string
@@ -54,12 +56,17 @@ type CUDA struct {
 // NewCUDAImageFromSpec creates a CUDA image from the input OCI runtime spec.
 // The process environment is read (if present) to construc the CUDA Image.
 func NewCUDAImageFromSpec(spec *specs.Spec, opts ...Option) (CUDA, error) {
+	if spec == nil {
+		return New(opts...)
+	}
+
 	var env []string
-	if spec != nil && spec.Process != nil {
+	if spec.Process != nil {
 		env = spec.Process.Env
 	}
 
 	specOpts := []Option{
+		WithAnnotations(spec.Annotations),
 		WithEnv(env),
 		WithMounts(spec.Mounts),
 		WithPrivileged(IsPrivileged((*OCISpec)(spec))),
@@ -95,6 +102,10 @@ func (i CUDA) IsLegacy() bool {
 	return len(legacyCudaVersion) > 0 && len(cudaRequire) == 0
 }
 
+func (i CUDA) IsPrivileged() bool {
+	return i.isPrivileged
+}
+
 // GetRequirements returns the requirements from all NVIDIA_REQUIRE_ environment
 // variables.
 func (i CUDA) GetRequirements() ([]string, error) {
@@ -212,19 +223,12 @@ func parseMajorMinorVersion(version string) (string, error) {
 // OnlyFullyQualifiedCDIDevices returns true if all devices requested in the image are requested as CDI devices/
 func (i CUDA) OnlyFullyQualifiedCDIDevices() bool {
 	var hasCDIdevice bool
-	for _, device := range i.VisibleDevicesFromEnvVar() {
+	for _, device := range i.VisibleDevices() {
 		if !parser.IsQualifiedName(device) {
 			return false
 		}
 		hasCDIdevice = true
 	}
-
-	for _, device := range i.DevicesFromMounts() {
-		if !strings.HasPrefix(device, "cdi/") {
-			return false
-		}
-		hasCDIdevice = true
-	}
 	return hasCDIdevice
 }
 
@@ -234,6 +238,12 @@ func (i CUDA) OnlyFullyQualifiedCDIDevices() bool {
 // In cases where environment variable requests required privileged containers,
 // such devices requests are ignored.
 func (i CUDA) VisibleDevices() []string {
+	// If annotation device requests are present, these are preferred.
+	annotationDeviceRequests := i.cdiDeviceRequestsFromAnnotations()
+	if len(annotationDeviceRequests) > 0 {
+		return annotationDeviceRequests
+	}
+
 	// If enabled, try and get the device list from volume mounts first
 	if i.acceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts {
 		volumeMountDeviceRequests := i.visibleDevicesFromMounts()
@@ -260,6 +270,31 @@ func (i CUDA) VisibleDevices() []string {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// cdiDeviceRequestsFromAnnotations returns a list of devices specified in the
+// annotations.
+// Keys starting with the specified prefixes are considered and expected to
+// contain a comma-separated list of fully-qualified CDI devices names.
+// The format of the requested devices is not checked and the list is not
+// deduplicated.
+func (i CUDA) cdiDeviceRequestsFromAnnotations() []string {
+	if len(i.annotationsPrefixes) == 0 || len(i.annotations) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	var devices []string
+	for key, value := range i.annotations {
+		for _, prefix := range i.annotationsPrefixes {
+			if strings.HasPrefix(key, prefix) {
+				devices = append(devices, strings.Split(value, ",")...)
+				// There is no need to check additional prefixes since we
+				// typically deduplicate devices in any case.
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return devices
+}
+
 // VisibleDevicesFromEnvVar returns the set of visible devices requested through environment variables.
 // If any of the preferredVisibleDeviceEnvVars are present in the image, they
 // are used to determine the visible devices. If this is not the case, the
@@ -276,20 +311,27 @@ func (i CUDA) VisibleDevicesFromEnvVar() []string {
 // visibleDevicesFromMounts returns the set of visible devices requested as mounts.
 func (i CUDA) visibleDevicesFromMounts() []string {
 	var devices []string
-	for _, device := range i.DevicesFromMounts() {
+	for _, device := range i.requestsFromMounts() {
 		switch {
-		case strings.HasPrefix(device, volumeMountDevicePrefixCDI):
-			continue
 		case strings.HasPrefix(device, volumeMountDevicePrefixImex):
 			continue
+		case strings.HasPrefix(device, volumeMountDevicePrefixCDI):
+			name, err := cdiDeviceMountRequest(device).qualifiedName()
+			if err != nil {
+				i.logger.Warningf("Ignoring invalid mount request for CDI device %v: %v", device, err)
+				continue
+			}
+			devices = append(devices, name)
+		default:
+			devices = append(devices, device)
 		}
-		devices = append(devices, device)
+
 	}
 	return devices
 }
 
-// DevicesFromMounts returns a list of device specified as mounts.
-func (i CUDA) DevicesFromMounts() []string {
+// requestsFromMounts returns a list of device specified as mounts.
+func (i CUDA) requestsFromMounts() []string {
 	root := filepath.Clean(DeviceListAsVolumeMountsRoot)
 	seen := make(map[string]bool)
 	var devices []string
@@ -321,23 +363,30 @@ func (i CUDA) DevicesFromMounts() []string {
 	return devices
 }
 
-// CDIDevicesFromMounts returns a list of CDI devices specified as mounts on the image.
-func (i CUDA) CDIDevicesFromMounts() []string {
-	var devices []string
-	for _, mountDevice := range i.DevicesFromMounts() {
-		if !strings.HasPrefix(mountDevice, volumeMountDevicePrefixCDI) {
-			continue
-		}
-		parts := strings.SplitN(strings.TrimPrefix(mountDevice, volumeMountDevicePrefixCDI), "/", 3)
-		if len(parts) != 3 {
-			continue
-		}
-		vendor := parts[0]
-		class := parts[1]
-		device := parts[2]
-		devices = append(devices, fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s=%s", vendor, class, device))
+// a cdiDeviceMountRequest represents a CDI device requests as a mount.
+// Here the host path /dev/null is mounted to a particular path in the container.
+// The container path has the form:
+// /var/run/nvidia-container-devices/cdi/<vendor>/<class>/<device>
+// or
+// /var/run/nvidia-container-devices/cdi/<vendor>/<class>=<device>
+type cdiDeviceMountRequest string
+
+// qualifiedName returns the fully-qualified name of the CDI device.
+func (m cdiDeviceMountRequest) qualifiedName() (string, error) {
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(string(m), volumeMountDevicePrefixCDI) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid mount CDI device request: %s", m)
 	}
-	return devices
+
+	requestedDevice := strings.TrimPrefix(string(m), volumeMountDevicePrefixCDI)
+	if parser.IsQualifiedName(requestedDevice) {
+		return requestedDevice, nil
+	}
+
+	parts := strings.SplitN(requestedDevice, "/", 3)
+	if len(parts) != 3 {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid mount CDI device request: %s", m)
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s=%s", parts[0], parts[1], parts[2]), nil
 }
 
 // ImexChannelsFromEnvVar returns the list of IMEX channels requested for the image.
@@ -352,7 +401,7 @@ func (i CUDA) ImexChannelsFromEnvVar() []string {
 // ImexChannelsFromMounts returns the list of IMEX channels requested for the image.
 func (i CUDA) ImexChannelsFromMounts() []string {
 	var channels []string
-	for _, mountDevice := range i.DevicesFromMounts() {
+	for _, mountDevice := range i.requestsFromMounts() {
 		if !strings.HasPrefix(mountDevice, volumeMountDevicePrefixImex) {
 			continue
 		}
diff --git a/internal/config/image/cuda_image_test.go b/internal/config/image/cuda_image_test.go
index 044466d38..7302a6959 100644
--- a/internal/config/image/cuda_image_test.go
+++ b/internal/config/image/cuda_image_test.go
@@ -487,9 +487,9 @@ func TestGetVisibleDevicesFromMounts(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedDevices: []string{"GPU0-MIG0/0/1", "GPU1-MIG0/0/1"},
 		},
 		{
-			description:     "cdi devices are ignored",
-			mounts:          makeTestMounts("GPU0", "cdi/nvidia.com/gpu=all", "GPU1"),
-			expectedDevices: []string{"GPU0", "GPU1"},
+			description:     "cdi devices are included",
+			mounts:          makeTestMounts("GPU0", "nvidia.com/gpu=all", "GPU1"),
+			expectedDevices: []string{"GPU0", "nvidia.com/gpu=all", "GPU1"},
 		},
 		{
 			description:     "imex devices are ignored",
@@ -649,6 +649,73 @@ func TestImexChannelsFromEnvVar(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCDIDeviceRequestsFromAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []struct {
+		description     string
+		prefixes        []string
+		annotations     map[string]string
+		expectedDevices []string
+	}{
+		{
+			description: "no annotations",
+		},
+		{
+			description: "no matching annotations",
+			prefixes:    []string{"not-prefix/"},
+			annotations: map[string]string{
+				"prefix/foo": "example.com/device=bar",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "single matching annotation",
+			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/"},
+			annotations: map[string]string{
+				"prefix/foo": "example.com/device=bar",
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar"},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "multiple matching annotations",
+			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/", "another-prefix/"},
+			annotations: map[string]string{
+				"prefix/foo":         "example.com/device=bar",
+				"another-prefix/bar": "example.com/device=baz",
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar", "example.com/device=baz"},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "multiple matching annotations with duplicate devices",
+			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/", "another-prefix/"},
+			annotations: map[string]string{
+				"prefix/foo":         "example.com/device=bar",
+				"another-prefix/bar": "example.com/device=bar",
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar", "example.com/device=bar"},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "invalid devices are returned as is",
+			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/"},
+			annotations: map[string]string{
+				"prefix/foo": "example.com/device",
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testCases {
+		t.Run(tc.description, func(t *testing.T) {
+			image, err := New(
+				WithAnnotationsPrefixes(tc.prefixes),
+				WithAnnotations(tc.annotations),
+			)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			devices := image.cdiDeviceRequestsFromAnnotations()
+			require.ElementsMatch(t, tc.expectedDevices, devices)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func makeTestMounts(paths ...string) []specs.Mount {
 	var mounts []specs.Mount
 	for _, path := range paths {
diff --git a/internal/info/auto_test.go b/internal/info/auto_test.go
index ad1475265..c2ab93d72 100644
--- a/internal/info/auto_test.go
+++ b/internal/info/auto_test.go
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ func TestResolveAutoMode(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedMode: "legacy",
 		},
 		{
-			description: "cdi mount and non-CDI envvar resolves to legacy",
+			description: "cdi mount and non-CDI envvar resolves to cdi",
 			mode:        "auto",
 			envmap: map[string]string{
 				"NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES": "0",
@@ -197,6 +197,22 @@ func TestResolveAutoMode(t *testing.T) {
 				"tegra": false,
 				"nvgpu": false,
 			},
+			expectedMode: "cdi",
+		},
+		{
+			description: "non-cdi mount and CDI envvar resolves to legacy",
+			mode:        "auto",
+			envmap: map[string]string{
+				"NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES": "nvidia.com/gpu=0",
+			},
+			mounts: []string{
+				"/var/run/nvidia-container-devices/0",
+			},
+			info: map[string]bool{
+				"nvml":  true,
+				"tegra": false,
+				"nvgpu": false,
+			},
 			expectedMode: "legacy",
 		},
 	}
@@ -232,6 +248,8 @@ func TestResolveAutoMode(t *testing.T) {
 			image, _ := image.New(
 				image.WithEnvMap(tc.envmap),
 				image.WithMounts(mounts),
+				image.WithAcceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts(true),
+				image.WithAcceptEnvvarUnprivileged(true),
 			)
 			mode := resolveMode(logger, tc.mode, image, properties)
 			require.EqualValues(t, tc.expectedMode, mode)
diff --git a/internal/modifier/cdi.go b/internal/modifier/cdi.go
index 6c7286af6..f8559d3f0 100644
--- a/internal/modifier/cdi.go
+++ b/internal/modifier/cdi.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package modifier
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"strings"
 
 	"tags.cncf.io/container-device-interface/pkg/parser"
 
@@ -34,11 +33,13 @@ import (
 // NewCDIModifier creates an OCI spec modifier that determines the modifications to make based on the
 // CDI specifications available on the system. The NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES environment variable is
 // used to select the devices to include.
-func NewCDIModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Spec) (oci.SpecModifier, error) {
-	devices, err := getDevicesFromSpec(logger, ociSpec, cfg)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get required devices from OCI specification: %v", err)
-	}
+func NewCDIModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, image image.CUDA) (oci.SpecModifier, error) {
+	deviceRequestor := newCDIDeviceRequestor(
+		logger,
+		image,
+		cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Modes.CDI.DefaultKind,
+	)
+	devices := deviceRequestor.DeviceRequests()
 	if len(devices) == 0 {
 		logger.Debugf("No devices requested; no modification required.")
 		return nil, nil
@@ -65,90 +66,38 @@ func NewCDIModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Spe
 	)
 }
 
-func getDevicesFromSpec(logger logger.Interface, ociSpec oci.Spec, cfg *config.Config) ([]string, error) {
-	rawSpec, err := ociSpec.Load()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load OCI spec: %v", err)
-	}
+type deviceRequestor interface {
+	DeviceRequests() []string
+}
 
-	annotationDevices, err := getAnnotationDevices(cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Modes.CDI.AnnotationPrefixes, rawSpec.Annotations)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse container annotations: %v", err)
-	}
-	if len(annotationDevices) > 0 {
-		return annotationDevices, nil
-	}
+type cdiDeviceRequestor struct {
+	image       image.CUDA
+	logger      logger.Interface
+	defaultKind string
+}
 
-	container, err := image.NewCUDAImageFromSpec(
-		rawSpec,
-		image.WithLogger(logger),
-	)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	if cfg.AcceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts {
-		mountDevices := container.CDIDevicesFromMounts()
-		if len(mountDevices) > 0 {
-			return mountDevices, nil
-		}
+func newCDIDeviceRequestor(logger logger.Interface, image image.CUDA, defaultKind string) deviceRequestor {
+	c := &cdiDeviceRequestor{
+		logger:      logger,
+		image:       image,
+		defaultKind: defaultKind,
 	}
+	return withUniqueDevices(c)
+}
 
+func (c *cdiDeviceRequestor) DeviceRequests() []string {
+	if c == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
 	var devices []string
-	seen := make(map[string]bool)
-	for _, name := range container.VisibleDevicesFromEnvVar() {
+	for _, name := range c.image.VisibleDevices() {
 		if !parser.IsQualifiedName(name) {
-			name = fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Modes.CDI.DefaultKind, name)
-		}
-		if seen[name] {
-			logger.Debugf("Ignoring duplicate device %q", name)
-			continue
+			name = fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", c.defaultKind, name)
 		}
 		devices = append(devices, name)
 	}
 
-	if len(devices) == 0 {
-		return nil, nil
-	}
-
-	if cfg.AcceptEnvvarUnprivileged || image.IsPrivileged((*image.OCISpec)(rawSpec)) {
-		return devices, nil
-	}
-
-	logger.Warningf("Ignoring devices specified in NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES: %v", devices)
-
-	return nil, nil
-}
-
-// getAnnotationDevices returns a list of devices specified in the annotations.
-// Keys starting with the specified prefixes are considered and expected to contain a comma-separated list of
-// fully-qualified CDI devices names. If any device name is not fully-quality an error is returned.
-// The list of returned devices is deduplicated.
-func getAnnotationDevices(prefixes []string, annotations map[string]string) ([]string, error) {
-	devicesByKey := make(map[string][]string)
-	for key, value := range annotations {
-		for _, prefix := range prefixes {
-			if strings.HasPrefix(key, prefix) {
-				devicesByKey[key] = strings.Split(value, ",")
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	seen := make(map[string]bool)
-	var annotationDevices []string
-	for key, devices := range devicesByKey {
-		for _, device := range devices {
-			if !parser.IsQualifiedName(device) {
-				return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid device name %q in annotation %q", device, key)
-			}
-			if seen[device] {
-				continue
-			}
-			annotationDevices = append(annotationDevices, device)
-			seen[device] = true
-		}
-	}
-
-	return annotationDevices, nil
+	return devices
 }
 
 // filterAutomaticDevices searches for "automatic" device names in the input slice.
@@ -172,7 +121,7 @@ func newAutomaticCDISpecModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, de
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to generate CDI spec: %w", err)
 	}
-	cdiModifier, err := cdi.New(
+	cdiDeviceRequestor, err := cdi.New(
 		cdi.WithLogger(logger),
 		cdi.WithSpec(spec.Raw()),
 	)
@@ -180,7 +129,7 @@ func newAutomaticCDISpecModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, de
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to construct CDI modifier: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	return cdiModifier, nil
+	return cdiDeviceRequestor, nil
 }
 
 func generateAutomaticCDISpec(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, devices []string) (spec.Interface, error) {
@@ -218,3 +167,27 @@ func generateAutomaticCDISpec(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, devic
 		spec.WithClass("gpu"),
 	)
 }
+
+type deduplicatedDeviceRequestor struct {
+	deviceRequestor
+}
+
+func withUniqueDevices(deviceRequestor deviceRequestor) deviceRequestor {
+	return &deduplicatedDeviceRequestor{deviceRequestor: deviceRequestor}
+}
+
+func (d *deduplicatedDeviceRequestor) DeviceRequests() []string {
+	if d == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	seen := make(map[string]bool)
+	var devices []string
+	for _, device := range d.deviceRequestor.DeviceRequests() {
+		if seen[device] {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[device] = true
+		devices = append(devices, device)
+	}
+	return devices
+}
diff --git a/internal/modifier/cdi_test.go b/internal/modifier/cdi_test.go
index 88ff697ab..881e8b2c2 100644
--- a/internal/modifier/cdi_test.go
+++ b/internal/modifier/cdi_test.go
@@ -17,76 +17,144 @@
 package modifier
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
+	testlog "github.com/sirupsen/logrus/hooks/test"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/internal/config/image"
 )
 
-func TestGetAnnotationDevices(t *testing.T) {
+func TestDeviceRequests(t *testing.T) {
+	logger, _ := testlog.NewNullLogger()
+
 	testCases := []struct {
 		description     string
+		input           cdiDeviceRequestor
+		spec            *specs.Spec
 		prefixes        []string
-		annotations     map[string]string
 		expectedDevices []string
-		expectedError   error
 	}{
 		{
-			description: "no annotations",
+			description: "empty spec yields no devices",
+		},
+		{
+			description: "cdi devices from mounts",
+			input: cdiDeviceRequestor{
+				defaultKind: "nvidia.com/gpu",
+			},
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Mounts: []specs.Mount{
+					{
+						Destination: "/var/run/nvidia-container-devices/cdi/nvidia.com/gpu/0",
+						Source:      "/dev/null",
+					},
+					{
+						Destination: "/var/run/nvidia-container-devices/cdi/nvidia.com/gpu/1",
+						Source:      "/dev/null",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"nvidia.com/gpu=0", "nvidia.com/gpu=1"},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "cdi devices from envvar",
+			input: cdiDeviceRequestor{
+				defaultKind: "nvidia.com/gpu",
+			},
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Process: &specs.Process{
+					Env: []string{"NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,example.com/class=device"},
+				},
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"nvidia.com/gpu=0", "example.com/class=device"},
 		},
 		{
 			description: "no matching annotations",
 			prefixes:    []string{"not-prefix/"},
-			annotations: map[string]string{
-				"prefix/foo": "example.com/device=bar",
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"prefix/foo": "example.com/device=bar",
+				},
 			},
 		},
 		{
 			description: "single matching annotation",
 			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/"},
-			annotations: map[string]string{
-				"prefix/foo": "example.com/device=bar",
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"prefix/foo": "example.com/device=bar",
+				},
 			},
 			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar"},
 		},
 		{
 			description: "multiple matching annotations",
 			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/", "another-prefix/"},
-			annotations: map[string]string{
-				"prefix/foo":         "example.com/device=bar",
-				"another-prefix/bar": "example.com/device=baz",
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"prefix/foo":         "example.com/device=bar",
+					"another-prefix/bar": "example.com/device=baz",
+				},
 			},
 			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar", "example.com/device=baz"},
 		},
 		{
 			description: "multiple matching annotations with duplicate devices",
 			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/", "another-prefix/"},
-			annotations: map[string]string{
-				"prefix/foo":         "example.com/device=bar",
-				"another-prefix/bar": "example.com/device=bar",
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"prefix/foo":         "example.com/device=bar",
+					"another-prefix/bar": "example.com/device=bar",
+				},
 			},
-			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar"},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"example.com/device=bar", "example.com/device=bar"},
 		},
 		{
-			description: "invalid devices",
-			prefixes:    []string{"prefix/"},
-			annotations: map[string]string{
-				"prefix/foo": "example.com/device",
+			description: "devices in annotations are expanded",
+			input: cdiDeviceRequestor{
+				defaultKind: "nvidia.com/gpu",
+			},
+			prefixes: []string{"prefix/"},
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"prefix/foo": "device",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedDevices: []string{"nvidia.com/gpu=device"},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "invalid devices in annotations are treated as strings",
+			input: cdiDeviceRequestor{
+				defaultKind: "nvidia.com/gpu",
+			},
+			prefixes: []string{"prefix/"},
+			spec: &specs.Spec{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"prefix/foo": "example.com/device",
+				},
 			},
-			expectedError: fmt.Errorf("invalid device %q", "example.com/device"),
+			expectedDevices: []string{"nvidia.com/gpu=example.com/device"},
 		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
-		t.Run(tc.description, func(t *testing.T) {
-			devices, err := getAnnotationDevices(tc.prefixes, tc.annotations)
-			if tc.expectedError != nil {
-				require.Error(t, err)
-				return
-			}
+		tc.input.logger = logger
 
+		image, err := image.NewCUDAImageFromSpec(
+			tc.spec,
+			image.WithAcceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts(true),
+			image.WithAcceptEnvvarUnprivileged(true),
+			image.WithAnnotationsPrefixes(tc.prefixes),
+		)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		tc.input.image = image
+
+		t.Run(tc.description, func(t *testing.T) {
+			devices := tc.input.DeviceRequests()
 			require.NoError(t, err)
-			require.ElementsMatch(t, tc.expectedDevices, devices)
+			require.EqualValues(t, tc.expectedDevices, devices)
 		})
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go b/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go
index a7b454a94..a4e992c19 100644
--- a/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go
+++ b/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go
@@ -65,29 +65,17 @@ func newNVIDIAContainerRuntime(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, argv
 
 // newSpecModifier is a factory method that creates constructs an OCI spec modifer based on the provided config.
 func newSpecModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Spec, driver *root.Driver) (oci.SpecModifier, error) {
-	rawSpec, err := ociSpec.Load()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load OCI spec: %v", err)
-	}
-
-	image, err := image.NewCUDAImageFromSpec(
-		rawSpec,
-		image.WithLogger(logger),
-	)
+	mode, image, err := initRuntimeModeAndImage(logger, cfg, ociSpec)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	hookCreator := discover.NewHookCreator(discover.WithNVIDIACDIHookPath(cfg.NVIDIACTKConfig.Path))
-
-	mode := info.ResolveAutoMode(logger, cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode, image)
-	// We update the mode here so that we can continue passing just the config to other functions.
-	cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode = mode
-	modeModifier, err := newModeModifier(logger, mode, cfg, ociSpec, image)
+	modeModifier, err := newModeModifier(logger, mode, cfg, *image)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	hookCreator := discover.NewHookCreator(discover.WithNVIDIACDIHookPath(cfg.NVIDIACTKConfig.Path))
 	var modifiers modifier.List
 	for _, modifierType := range supportedModifierTypes(mode) {
 		switch modifierType {
@@ -96,13 +84,13 @@ func newSpecModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Sp
 		case "nvidia-hook-remover":
 			modifiers = append(modifiers, modifier.NewNvidiaContainerRuntimeHookRemover(logger))
 		case "graphics":
-			graphicsModifier, err := modifier.NewGraphicsModifier(logger, cfg, image, driver, hookCreator)
+			graphicsModifier, err := modifier.NewGraphicsModifier(logger, cfg, *image, driver, hookCreator)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 			modifiers = append(modifiers, graphicsModifier)
 		case "feature-gated":
-			featureGatedModifier, err := modifier.NewFeatureGatedModifier(logger, cfg, image, driver, hookCreator)
+			featureGatedModifier, err := modifier.NewFeatureGatedModifier(logger, cfg, *image, driver, hookCreator)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
@@ -113,19 +101,58 @@ func newSpecModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Sp
 	return modifiers, nil
 }
 
-func newModeModifier(logger logger.Interface, mode string, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Spec, image image.CUDA) (oci.SpecModifier, error) {
+func newModeModifier(logger logger.Interface, mode string, cfg *config.Config, image image.CUDA) (oci.SpecModifier, error) {
 	switch mode {
 	case "legacy":
 		return modifier.NewStableRuntimeModifier(logger, cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeHookConfig.Path), nil
 	case "csv":
 		return modifier.NewCSVModifier(logger, cfg, image)
 	case "cdi":
-		return modifier.NewCDIModifier(logger, cfg, ociSpec)
+		return modifier.NewCDIModifier(logger, cfg, image)
 	}
 
 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid runtime mode: %v", cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode)
 }
 
+// initRuntimeModeAndImage constructs an image from the specified OCI runtime
+// specification and runtime config.
+// The image is also used to determine the runtime mode to apply.
+// If a non-CDI mode is detected we ensure that the image does not process
+// annotation devices.
+func initRuntimeModeAndImage(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Spec) (string, *image.CUDA, error) {
+	rawSpec, err := ociSpec.Load()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load OCI spec: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	image, err := image.NewCUDAImageFromSpec(
+		rawSpec,
+		image.WithLogger(logger),
+		image.WithAcceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts(cfg.AcceptDeviceListAsVolumeMounts),
+		image.WithAcceptEnvvarUnprivileged(cfg.AcceptEnvvarUnprivileged),
+		image.WithAnnotationsPrefixes(cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Modes.CDI.AnnotationPrefixes),
+	)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+
+	mode := info.ResolveAutoMode(logger, cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode, image)
+	// We update the mode here so that we can continue passing just the config to other functions.
+	cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode = mode
+
+	if mode == "cdi" || len(cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Modes.CDI.AnnotationPrefixes) == 0 {
+		return mode, &image, nil
+	}
+
+	// For non-cdi modes we explicitly set the annotation prefixes to nil and
+	// call this function again to force a reconstruction of the image.
+	// Note that since the mode is now explicitly set, we will effectively skip
+	// the mode resolution.
+	cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Modes.CDI.AnnotationPrefixes = nil
+
+	return initRuntimeModeAndImage(logger, cfg, ociSpec)
+}
+
 // supportedModifierTypes returns the modifiers supported for a specific runtime mode.
 func supportedModifierTypes(mode string) []string {
 	switch mode {