diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md b/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md
index 97703457030..b62c774af0d 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 - Fix unzipping of large files.
 - Ensure compare order is consistent when selecting two queries to compare. The first query selected is always the _from_ query and the query selected later is always the _to_ query.
 - Ensure added databases have zipped source locations for databases added as archives or downloaded from the internet.
+- Fix bug where it is not possible to add databases starting with `db-*`.
 
 ## 1.3.0 - 22 June 2020
 
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/databases-ui.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/databases-ui.ts
index 5691059f262..8c2a5572abd 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/databases-ui.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/databases-ui.ts
@@ -594,7 +594,8 @@ export class DatabaseUI extends DisposableObject {
     if ((await fs.stat(dbPath)).isFile()) {
       dbPath = path.dirname(dbPath);
     }
-    if (path.basename(dbPath).startsWith('db-')) {
+
+    if (isLikelyDbFolder(dbPath)) {
       dbPath = path.dirname(dbPath);
     }
     return Uri.file(dbPath);
@@ -609,3 +610,8 @@ export class DatabaseUI extends DisposableObject {
     }
   }
 }
+
+const dbRegeEx = /^db-(javascript|go|cpp|java|python)$/;
+function isLikelyDbFolder(dbPath: string) {
+  return path.basename(dbPath).match(dbRegeEx);
+}
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/vscode-tests/no-workspace/databases-ui.test.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/vscode-tests/no-workspace/databases-ui.test.ts
index 132cd75f689..bbca853effe 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/vscode-tests/no-workspace/databases-ui.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/vscode-tests/no-workspace/databases-ui.test.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ describe('databases-ui', () => {
 
     it('should choose parent direcory when db-* is selected', async () => {
       const dir = tmp.dirSync().name;
-      const dbDir = path.join(dir, 'db-hucairz');
+      const dbDir = path.join(dir, 'db-javascript');
       await fs.mkdirs(dbDir);
 
       const uri = await fixDbUri(Uri.file(dbDir));
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ describe('databases-ui', () => {
 
     it('should choose parent\'s parent direcory when file selected is in db-*', async () => {
       const dir = tmp.dirSync().name;
-      const dbDir = path.join(dir, 'db-hucairz');
+      const dbDir = path.join(dir, 'db-javascript');
       const file = path.join(dbDir, 'nested');
       await fs.mkdirs(dbDir);
       await fs.createFile(file);
@@ -42,6 +42,18 @@ describe('databases-ui', () => {
       const uri = await fixDbUri(Uri.file(file));
       expect(uri.toString()).to.eq(Uri.file(dir).toString());
     });
-  });
 
+    it('should handle a parent whose name is db-*', async () => {
+      // fixes https://github.com/github/vscode-codeql/issues/482
+      const dir = tmp.dirSync().name;
+      const parentDir = path.join(dir, 'db-hucairz');
+      const dbDir = path.join(parentDir, 'db-javascript');
+      const file = path.join(dbDir, 'nested');
+      await fs.mkdirs(dbDir);
+      await fs.createFile(file);
+
+      const uri = await fixDbUri(Uri.file(file));
+      expect(uri.toString()).to.eq(Uri.file(parentDir).toString());
+    });
+  });
 });