diff --git a/libavb/avb_slot_verify.c b/libavb/avb_slot_verify.c
index eb474ec..9124b24 100644
--- a/libavb/avb_slot_verify.c
+++ b/libavb/avb_slot_verify.c
@@ -584,7 +584,7 @@
   size_t num_descriptors;
   size_t n;
   bool is_main_vbmeta;
-  bool is_vbmeta_partition;
+  bool look_for_vbmeta_footer;
   AvbVBMetaData* vbmeta_image_data = NULL;
 
   ret = AVB_SLOT_VERIFY_RESULT_OK;
@@ -596,7 +596,14 @@
    * vbmeta struct.
    */
   is_main_vbmeta = (rollback_index_location == 0);
-  is_vbmeta_partition = (avb_strcmp(partition_name, "vbmeta") == 0);
+
+  /* Don't use footers for vbmeta partitions ('vbmeta' or
+   * 'vbmeta_<partition_name>').
+   */
+  look_for_vbmeta_footer = true;
+  if (avb_strncmp(partition_name, "vbmeta", avb_strlen("vbmeta")) == 0) {
+    look_for_vbmeta_footer = false;
+  }
 
   if (!avb_validate_utf8((const uint8_t*)partition_name, partition_name_len)) {
     avb_error("Partition name is not valid UTF-8.\n");
@@ -624,7 +631,7 @@
    */
   vbmeta_offset = 0;
   vbmeta_size = VBMETA_MAX_SIZE;
-  if (!is_vbmeta_partition) {
+  if (look_for_vbmeta_footer) {
     uint8_t footer_buf[AVB_FOOTER_SIZE];
     size_t footer_num_read;
     AvbFooter footer;
@@ -692,7 +699,7 @@
      * go try to get it from the boot partition instead.
      */
     if (is_main_vbmeta && io_ret == AVB_IO_RESULT_ERROR_NO_SUCH_PARTITION &&
-        is_vbmeta_partition) {
+        !look_for_vbmeta_footer) {
       avb_debugv(full_partition_name,
                  ": No such partition. Trying 'boot' instead.\n",
                  NULL);