diff --git a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
index 58f87f0ddf..1f2a21a17c 100644
--- a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
+++ b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
@@ -830,19 +830,6 @@ nm_utils_find_helper(const char *progname, const char *try_first, GError **error
 
 /******************************************************************************************/
 
-gboolean
-nm_match_spec_string (const GSList *specs, const char *match)
-{
-	const GSList *iter;
-
-	for (iter = specs; iter; iter = g_slist_next (iter)) {
-		if (!g_ascii_strcasecmp ((const char *) iter->data, match))
-			return TRUE;
-	}
-
-	return FALSE;
-}
-
 #define MAC_TAG "mac:"
 #define INTERFACE_NAME_TAG "interface-name:"
 #define SUBCHAN_TAG "s390-subchannels:"
diff --git a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
index ae1edd820b..d11f1fa204 100644
--- a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
+++ b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ const char *nm_utils_find_helper (const char *progname,
                                   const char *try_first,
                                   GError **error);
 
-gboolean nm_match_spec_string (const GSList *specs, const char *string);
 gboolean nm_match_spec_hwaddr (const GSList *specs, const char *hwaddr);
 gboolean nm_match_spec_s390_subchannels (const GSList *specs, const char *subchannels);
 gboolean nm_match_spec_interface_name (const GSList *specs, const char *interface_name);
diff --git a/src/devices/nm-device.c b/src/devices/nm-device.c
index 86ab3945de..a5059fdf34 100644
--- a/src/devices/nm-device.c
+++ b/src/devices/nm-device.c
@@ -8217,9 +8217,12 @@ spec_match_list (NMDevice *self, const GSList *specs)
 {
 	NMDevicePrivate *priv = NM_DEVICE_GET_PRIVATE (self);
 	gboolean matched = FALSE;
+	const GSList *iter;
 
-	if (nm_match_spec_string (specs, "*"))
-		return TRUE;
+	for (iter = specs; iter; iter = g_slist_next (iter)) {
+		if (!strcmp ((const char *) iter->data, "*"))
+			return TRUE;
+	}
 
 	if (priv->hw_addr_len)
 		matched = nm_match_spec_hwaddr (specs, priv->hw_addr);