diff --git a/docs/manual.rst b/docs/manual.rst
index 9ba9acbb4..ffd7e8714 100644
--- a/docs/manual.rst
+++ b/docs/manual.rst
@@ -776,7 +776,10 @@ unless the following conditions are met:
 * the IP address is not in a known loopback range
 * the item the IP address was expanded from was not marked local (``l``)
 * the IP address is in a globally reachable IP address range OR the routing
-  table contains a default route with a gateway for the corresponding network
+  table contains a default route with a gateway for the corresponding network.
+  This bullet only applies when expanding from an unspecified IP address. When
+  explicitly specifying a device, we don't need to find a route to treat it as
+  external.
 
 The NAT-PMP/PCP and UPnP port mapper objects are only created for networks that
 are expected to be externally available (i.e. not "local network"). If there are
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/aux_/session_impl.hpp b/include/libtorrent/aux_/session_impl.hpp
index e075d3c28..a9eb79673 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/aux_/session_impl.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/aux_/session_impl.hpp
@@ -292,7 +292,6 @@ namespace aux {
 			listen_interface_t const& iface
 			, listen_socket_flags_t flags
 			, span<ip_interface const> const ifs
-			, span<ip_route const> const routes
 			, std::vector<listen_endpoint_t>& eps);
 
 		// expand [::] to all IPv6 interfaces for BEP 45 compliance
diff --git a/src/session_impl.cpp b/src/session_impl.cpp
index 1f42815e8..93ab99a94 100644
--- a/src/session_impl.cpp
+++ b/src/session_impl.cpp
@@ -1747,7 +1747,6 @@ namespace aux {
 	void interface_to_endpoints(listen_interface_t const& iface
 		, listen_socket_flags_t flags
 		, span<ip_interface const> const ifs
-		, span<ip_route const> const routes
 		, std::vector<listen_endpoint_t>& eps)
 	{
 		flags |= iface.local ? listen_socket_t::local_network : listen_socket_flags_t{};
@@ -1779,9 +1778,7 @@ namespace aux {
 				// bother looking for the gateway
 				bool const local = iface.local
 					|| ipface.interface_address.is_loopback()
-					|| is_link_local(ipface.interface_address)
-					|| (!is_global(ipface.interface_address)
-						&& !has_default_route(ipface.name, family(ipface.interface_address), routes));
+					|| is_link_local(ipface.interface_address);
 
 				eps.emplace_back(ipface.interface_address, iface.port, iface.device
 					, ssl, flags | (local ? listen_socket_t::local_network : listen_socket_flags_t{}));
@@ -1851,7 +1848,7 @@ namespace aux {
 			// IP address or a device name. In case it's a device name, we want to
 			// (potentially) end up binding a socket for each IP address associated
 			// with that device.
-			interface_to_endpoints(iface, flags, ifs, routes, eps);
+			interface_to_endpoints(iface, flags, ifs, eps);
 		}
 
 		// if no listen interfaces are specified, create sockets to use
diff --git a/test/test_listen_socket.cpp b/test/test_listen_socket.cpp
index efc98693f..dcca299e5 100644
--- a/test/test_listen_socket.cpp
+++ b/test/test_listen_socket.cpp
@@ -391,11 +391,10 @@ TORRENT_TEST(expand_unspecified)
 
 namespace {
 std::vector<aux::listen_endpoint_t> to_endpoint(listen_interface_t const& iface
-	, span<ip_interface const> const ifs
-	, span<ip_route const> const routes)
+	, span<ip_interface const> const ifs)
 {
 	std::vector<aux::listen_endpoint_t> ret;
-	interface_to_endpoints(iface, aux::listen_socket_t::accept_incoming, ifs, routes, ret);
+	interface_to_endpoints(iface, aux::listen_socket_t::accept_incoming, ifs, ret);
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -411,7 +410,7 @@ using ls = aux::listen_socket_t;
 
 TORRENT_TEST(interface_to_endpoint)
 {
-	TEST_CHECK(to_endpoint(ift("10.0.1.1", 6881), {}, {}) == eps{ep("10.0.1.1", 6881)});
+	TEST_CHECK(to_endpoint(ift("10.0.1.1", 6881), {}) == eps{ep("10.0.1.1", 6881)});
 
 
 	std::vector<ip_interface> const ifs = {
@@ -423,25 +422,19 @@ TORRENT_TEST(interface_to_endpoint)
 		, ifc("2601:646:c600:a3:d250:99ff:fe0c:9b74", "eth1")
 	};
 
-	TEST_CHECK((to_endpoint(ift("eth0", 1234), ifs, {})
+	TEST_CHECK((to_endpoint(ift("eth0", 1234), ifs)
 		== eps{ep("185.0.1.2", 1234, "eth0", ls::was_expanded | ls::accept_incoming)
 		, ep("fe80::d250:99ff:fe0c:9b74", 1234, "eth0", ls::was_expanded | ls::accept_incoming | ls::local_network)}));
 
-	TEST_CHECK((to_endpoint(ift("eth1", 1234), ifs, {})
-		== eps{ep("192.168.2.2", 1234, "eth1", ls::was_expanded | ls::accept_incoming | ls::local_network)
+	TEST_CHECK((to_endpoint(ift("eth1", 1234), ifs)
+		== eps{ep("192.168.2.2", 1234, "eth1", ls::was_expanded | ls::accept_incoming)
 		, ep("2601:646:c600:a3:d250:99ff:fe0c:9b74", 1234, "eth1", ls::was_expanded | ls::accept_incoming)}));
 
-	std::vector<ip_route> const routes = {
-		rt("0.0.0.0", "eth1", "3.4.5.6"),
-		rt("0.0.0.0", "eth0", "1.2.3.4"),
-		rt("::", "eth0", "1234:5678::1"),
-	};
-
 	std::vector<ip_interface> const ifs2 = {
 		ifc("10.0.1.1", "eth0")
 	};
 
-	TEST_CHECK((to_endpoint(ift("eth0", 1234), ifs2, routes)
+	TEST_CHECK((to_endpoint(ift("eth0", 1234), ifs2)
 		== eps{ep("10.0.1.1", 1234, "eth0", ls::was_expanded | ls::accept_incoming)}));
 }